Relentless
by GracelesslyFalling
Summary: Sequel to Rehabilitate. After mobilizing the Avengers and using Anna as bait to draw Hydra out, things went seriously wrong. The team must regroup and pull their resources in order to find her before her use to Hydra runs out. While Anna fights back from the inside, James will stop at nothing to get Anya back. Hydra will pay for taking his memories and his Anya.
1. Chapter 1

The last thing Anna remembered was Clint tackling her to the ground before the tree behind them exploded and rained what looked like syringes down on the both of them. Then the world went black. She woke screaming out James' name only to find the forest had disappeared. Four cold metal walls surrounded her as she laid on a small twin bed. It was the only piece of furniture in the room. Moving to stand, Anna fell back on the bed cradling her head in her hands. Her mind was foggy and heavy, as though she'd been drugged. Giving it a moment, allowing herself to get her bearings, Anna rose to her feet again, slower that time. Crossing the room to the door, she jiggled the handle to find it locked. Not that it was surprising. Obviously Hydra had gotten to her and they wouldn't let her go roaming about. Didn't work out so well for them last time.

Anna spent the next few minutes banging her fist against the door, in hopes that someone might let her out to pee at the very least. When no one came, she pressed her back against the door, sliding down to the floor. What was the point of kidnapping her if they were just going to lock her in a box? And where were James and the others? They should have traced the signal to the base by now. Unless something happened to them. That thought had her heart clenching in fear as she returned to her previous position of banging against the door.

…

"We got her," Rollins reported to Rumlow once they had returned to the compound. "We lost quite a few men. I hope she's worth it."

"Where is she now?" Rumlow demanded, ignoring Rollins' last statement. He didn't care what his agents said, he was in charge and they shouldn't be questioning his motives. Hydra needed Anna as much as he wanted her.

"She's still out from the tranquilizer. We put her in holding room D." As soon as Rollins' had given her location, Rumlow flipped through the security channels until the feed in Anna's room flickered up on the security monitor. Seeing her unconscious on the bed reassured him. After weeks, they had finally succeeded. And that time, he'd make sure she didn't escape again.

"What about the asset?" Rumlow inquired, turning his head away from the monitor for the first time. They had lost the signal from the asset's tracker several days ago. Rumlow wasn't dumb enough to think the recruit they'd sent after the asset had actually succeeded. More than likely he'd been tortured for information and had told the asset about the tracker. At least Rumlow could be assured that the recruit was dead. The asset wouldn't let him survive an interrogation. They hadn't trained him to.

"He was there. With Cap, Stark and their team. It was an ambush. They all survived. We barely made it out with the girl." Rumlow wasn't exactly thrilled the asset was still alive. His orders had been clear, other than getting Anna he wanted assurance that the asset wouldn't be a problem anymore.

"Were you followed?" Rumlow demanded, knowing the asset wasn't one to give up. The plan wouldn't go accordingly if he found them too soon. Anna was still attached to him. He needed to strip her of that before the asset came for her. Because there was no doubt the asset would come for her.

"No sir. We can't trace the asset's movements anymore, but we scanned the girl with electromagnetic pulses in route. It should have scrambled any tracing technology Stark might have placed on her." Seeing as how they had made it to the compound without any altercations, and the asset wasn't busting down the front door, Rollins was inclined to think their methods had worked.

"Make sure everyone understands she's not to be harmed." Rollins rolled his eyes at that remark, able to get away with it since Rumlow had turned his attention back to the monitor.

"It'd help if I could tell them why she's getting the special treatment," Rollins grunted, remembering how the little bitch had shot him in the kneecap. He'd only just recovered from that injury and he wouldn't mind turning his eye if any of the other agents roughed her up a bit. However, if given a good enough reason, Rollins would personally protect her for the sake of Hydra.

"She's going to help solve a little problem we've been having with experimental weapons," Rumlow answered cryptically, eyes still glued to Anna's sleeping form on the monitors.

"Aren't weapons more her brother's thing?" Rollins inquired, wondering if perhaps they'd kidnapped the wrong Stark. If they were dealing with weapons, Tony was the one they wanted. Before he'd turned super hero he was the leading supplier of weapons to the US Army, among other Nations.

"Not when the weapons are people." Rumlow answered, finally switching the monitor to a different channel to illustrate his point.

…

"Where did they take her?!" James exploded, lunging at the Hydra agent who was smirking at him, tired of letting Steve do this his way. He wasn't getting results. Unfortunately, Steve pulled him back before he got his hands on the agent. It only had the agent's smirk widening.

"Bucky, we talked about this," Steve reminded, only releasing his grip on Bucky's shoulders when he felt confident he wouldn't try to rip the hostage's throat out.

"He won't talk unless you give him incentive to," James growled, glaring at the agent. He knew what it took to get people to abandon their loyalties. Bringing them to the brink of death usually worked most of the time. It didn't hurt that James wanted to murder every Hydra agent he could get his hands on for taking Anya from him.

"There's incentives other than not dying." Steve answered firmly, arms crossed as he stared down his best friend.

"These guys can go days without food and water. I know. They got the same training as me. Offering them pie won't get them to talk." James insisted, raking his hand through his hair in frustration. The longer it took for them to get answers, the further he felt Anya slipping away.

"I heard yelling. Do we need to put Tin Man in a time out?" Tony's voice sounded from the door of the dining room where Steve and James were conducting their interrogation. Sam and Clint got the parlor and Bruce and Tony had the library.

"Don't push his buttons right now, Tony. Unless you want a matching bruise on the other side of your face." Capsicle's warning only had Tony glaring at him, removing the glass of scotch from his right cheek to take a swig of it and revealing the dark purple bruise that covered his jawline. Turned out Tin Man had been serious when he'd said he'd blame Tony if anything happened to Anna Banana. And that blame came in the form of a swift punch to his jaw the first second he saw him.

"Give him all the sympathy why don't you. If you don't remember, Anna Banana is my sister. She was my responsibility and I lost her. If you think that isn't eating me up inside, you're wrong." Tony spat out before turning on his heel and heading back to the library. As much as he hated to admit it, Tin Man was right. It was all his fault. Tony deserved that punch for letting Anna slip away.

Steve turned towards Bucky once Tony had left, immediately noticing the increasing tenseness to his body. This was too much for him right now. Losing Anna had hit him hard and he hadn't recovered enough from that blow to stay in control. Control was crucial to getting the agent to talk. If they didn't seem in control of the situation, it would make the agent feel superior and unwilling to talk. Heck, the agent had already been wearing a smirk on his face before Bucky's little outburst.

"Bucky, I think it might be best if you got some air," Steve suggested, moving to take a seat across from the hostage. "You need to clear your head."

The last thing James wanted to do was just sit outside and wait on the others to get results. This was Anya they were fighting for. He wanted to do something useful. Like tearing Hydra agents apart limb by limb until they told him where she was. However, he also knew this was their only lead, their one shot at finding her location. And he could understand where Steve was coming from. If they rushed it, caused too much pain or injury, if he killed the agents, there would be no one left to tell them where Anya was. So, in the end, James took Steve's advice and left the room.

James ended up on the back deck, staring out over the lake where just last night he and Anya swam. It hurt. Knowing she wasn't there. Not knowing how, when, or even if they were going to get her back. Especially with memories of their last night together swirling around in his head. It had been so perfect. He should have known good things weren't meant to last. Not for him.

...

It was hours before anyone came for Anna. She had given up on pounding on the door and was waiting silently beside it, planning on running for it as soon as the door opened. Sooner or later they'd have to open the door. Of course, Hydra seemed to be anticipating her move. When they did come to the room, they opened the door just enough to slide in a tray of food before slamming it shut again. Too fast for Anna to do anything.

Snatching up the tray, Anna returned to the bed with it and set it before her. It wasn't much in the means of sustenance. Some brown looking meat and a potato. Not that Anna trusted any food she hadn't seen prepared. Hydra had no qualms of drugging her to get her to wherever the heck she was. They'd have no trouble sleeping at night if they drugged her food as well. Especially not if it would subdue her.

"It is not poisoned, Anna." A voice sounded out of nowhere, causing Anna to whip her head around. No one was in the room with her, which led her to conclude it had come from speakers somewhere in the walls. It also had her realizing they were watching her. There was no other way for them to know whether she was eating it or not if they didn't have cameras embedded somewhere. Which was incredibly creepy, to think of someone watching her at all times. Hydra obviously didn't care about personal space or privacy.

In a show of defiance, Anna moved the tray to the floor before pushing it away with her foot. Curling up on the bed, she ignored her hunger. The satisfaction of not doing what they wanted her to, even something as small as eating, was worth the pain. Hydra needed to know she wasn't going to cooperate. No matter what they did to her.

"You will have to eat at some point Anna," The voice sounded again. That time Anna recognized it as Rumlow's. The realization had Anna even less willing to cooperate. "You're only hurting yourself."

"What did you do with to the others? What did you do with my brother, Steve, James?" Anna demanded, speaking even though her stubbornness had wanted her to remain quiet. Knowing whether the others were safe was more important than her stubborn pride.

"Nothing. We've done nothing." Rumlow's answer had Anna sighing in relief. At least the others were safe. "Our future actions against them entirely depend on you." He added, causing Anna to grip the sides of the bed in anger.

It was an empty threat. She knew it. If they had intended on hurting the others, they would have taken them as well. Hydra couldn't touch the Avengers. As a group, the Avengers were too strong. They worked as a team and had each other's backs in a fight, which was what made them more resilient than Hydra. Taking down an army with no ties to one another was a lot easier than taking down a team.

…

The sun was setting when the arrow assassin came to sit beside James. He hadn't moved from his spot by the lake for a couple of hours now. The fresh air hadn't calmed him down any, and he knew he'd kill the first Hydra agent he saw. So he remained where he was.

"Have any of them said anything?" James asked without looking to the arrow wielding assassin. The man who lumped James together with Hydra.

"Nothing of importance, yet. They'll be more apt to talk in a few days." Clint responded, slipping off his shoes so he could dip his feet into the water. "Don't worry, we'll find her." He added, noticing the look on James' face and his tense body language as worry, albeit mixed with anger. Anna was very important to him.

"Why are you trying to reassure me?" James asked skeptically, sending the assassin a sideways glance. "I thought you didn't like me." Not only had the assassin shot arrows repeatedly at James' head, he'd verbally confirmed his dislike shortly after meeting him.

"I don't. Or I didn't, until Sam explained exactly what Hydra did to you," Clint shrugged. He'd never been good with the whole touchy-feely conversations. Though that's exactly why he came out there. He couldn't remember how it had come up in conversation, but once Sam had told Clint the truth of what James had went through, it left Clint feeling an obligation to the soldier. He had personal experience with mind control. It sucked. And he figured talking to a fellow brainwash victim might help James stabilize his thoughts and emotions. At the very least, so he could focus on a productive way to help Anna rather than going on a murderous rampage. That could wait till they found where Hydra was keeping her.

"It was still me pulling the trigger. I was the one who shot your friend." James insisted, knowing it was true. Hydra had taken his memories, but they hadn't physically controlled his every movement. He controlled the end result. And he'd always chosen to listen to them. Until Anya.

"That wasn't you. It was the person Hydra manipulated you into being," Clint was just as persistent. "Trust me, I know what it's like to have your mind taken apart. To do crazy shit you'd never do otherwise, because the one holding the strings to your mind tells you to. He tells you it is right and that it's for the greater good of mankind. You'd kill your best friend just because he says so. I know because I almost did." Loki had pulled apart his brain and reconstructed it with his own sense of truth. It had almost cost him Nat. He'd fought her, hurt her, with his own hands. All because Loki had told him to. It was the same with James and Hydra. The person James' became when Hydra wiped his memories wasn't him. It was the Winter Soldier. The persona created to kill.

"You have an interesting way of looking at it." James murmured. The assassin's words reminded James of Anya. How she had always claimed it wasn't his fault. Anya always did see the best in people. Especially when those people could only see the worst.

"That was basically my version of what Anna said to me. I was in a low place after what happened in New York. She helped me see that piece of truth." Clint smiled lightly at the memory of a stubborn Anna gripping him by the shoulders, looking him straight in the eye, and giving him the pep talk of how all the evil he had done was Loki, not him.

"You care about Anna. Why?" James asked, curious as to the relationship between Anya and he arrow assassin. Anya had never seemed the type of person to hang around assassins, even if they were on the 'good' side. She wasn't so keen on killing people.

"She helped me after my brainwashing incident. I had a bit of post-traumatic stress after it. She'd take blood samples and tests to help figure out how my body reacted to the magic and she helped create a cocktail of medications that would best help my particular source of PTSD." Anna was a godsend. Clint couldn't go to a hospital after what had happened to him. They wouldn't know what to do with the changes his cells had gone through. He needed someone who wouldn't call the government in and put him in an experimental facility. Anna had been exactly what he needed. Clint oftentimes felt he owed her for his sanity.

"Anya's good at healing wounds even you aren't aware you have." James murmured, thinking on all the ways she had helped him. Of course, she'd always healed his physical wounds, but she'd started work on the internal ones as well. The emotional wounds he carried had started lessening since he met her.

"I've seen what Hydra is capable of first hand. Seen what they do to their hostages. Experienced what they do to their assets. I don't want them to do that to Anya." Hydra tortured everyone, no matter what they had taken them for. The only thing that differed was their means of torturing.

"They went to a lot of trouble to get her. They need her for something. So she's safe." Clint reassured him. In his experience, if SHIELD needed something from a hostage that hostage had immunity until they got what they wanted from him.

"Just because Hydra needs you, doesn't mean they don't hurt you," James muttered darkly. Hydra had needed him, and that hadn't stopped them from withholding food, beating him, and wiping his memories when things didn't go according to their plan and timeline.

* * *

 _A/N The first chapter! A touch base of where everyone is after the attack. Things will definitely pick up as it moves along. I also will announce here in case anyone missed it who's interested: I posted a one shot of Anna and James' intimacy in more detail. It's called 'In a way, he was her first." Check it out if you're interested. Next chapter will hopefully be out by Friday Night. I might be able to post it sooner, but that's my solid deadline. This next week is big for me. My last week on rotation. I graduate next Saturday which is exciting yet a little scary._

 _ **Guest review responses to 'In a way, he was her first':**_

 _To the guest who claimed I really outdid myself: Thank you! I'm so glad you think I kept it classy. I tried my hardest. To hear you think I reflected their relationship perfectly in the one shot is amazing! And it makes me smile that the one shot made you love Janya all the more. Hope you enjoyed the first chapter of Relentless!_

 _To the guest who said they loved the one shot and rehabilitate and me: Why thank you, I'm sincerely touched. I'm happy to hear you think my writing is fantastic! Hope you enjoyed the first taste of Relentless._

 _To Wheezy: Glad to hear I went above and beyond your expectations for the one shot. In time they will be reunited again. I hope you'll bear with me through the time they are separated and I hope I meet your expectations!_

 _ **Guest review responses for last chapter of Rehabilitate:**_

 _To Avid Fan: AW I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I agree, Janya is cute and I'm glad I write them so you think so. Tony is on another level with his humor and his older brother protectiveness. I kind of wish I was related to him even with his overprotective tendencies. Hope you enjoyed the reference to Tony getting punched! And if you haven't already you should check out the M rated one shot. The reunion won't be happening right away. The Avengers have to regroup and reorganize. It's okay you didn't review for a while, you reviewed now! And I very much appreciate it! I hope you liked this first chapter. I'm excited for this story as well as Steve's and Bruce's._

 _Aragornsgirl: Glad you loved the story! And that you're excited for this sequel. I hope it lives up to your expectations. Thanks for checking out the one shot!_

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	2. Chapter 2

It'd been a week. A week with no contact except for when they pushed food through the door that Anna never touched, or when they let her have bathroom privileges. Rollins was the one who escorted her to the bathroom when it was necessary. The first time she'd gotten a shower she'd asked him if there were cameras in there. She was only being half-sarcastic. Rollins never answered her. It had her taking the fastest showers of her life. In case his silence wasn't just to torture her.

She tried to escape on the third bathroom excursion. Knowing Rollin's right knee was a soft spot, Anna used all her strength behind the kick that sent Rollins falling to the floor in pain. She didn't waste much time while he was down to sprint in the opposite direction. It probably would have worked out better had she known which way the exit was. As it were, armed agents had caught up to her fairly fast, cornering her down a hallway. She managed to debilitate a few, using her pointy elbow jammed into their stomachs like James had taught her. However, in the end she was dragged back to her room. She lost bathroom privileges that day, and the next time she was escorted to the restroom she was put in restraints and had guns trained on her.

Anna hit a low point after that. The hunger, the invasion of privacy, and the boredom were all things she could deal with. What made it excruciating was she kept dreaming of him. James. Sometimes it was small insignificant moments together, and others it was their last night replaying over in her mind. Both had her waking up feeling empty when she realized where she was. That she wasn't with him. She missed his comforting touch and the warmth of his body and the way he always listened patiently when she babbled on about nothing. She even missed his protectiveness over her, and the way he was always so careful as if he might break her. Most of all she missed their late night conversations, the moments saved for when they had some semblance of privacy. At times, all of it was enough to bring tears to her eyes. Though she always made sure to hide her tears in the pillow, so whoever might be watching wouldn't see her crumbling.

Every day she spent in the metal box Anna could feel herself losing a bit of her sanity. She actually ended up thinking out loud, talking to whoever was monitoring her little prison. It was mostly empty threats. Though she'd often remind them who her brother was. That he was coming for her. That they all were: Tony, Steve, Clint, Bruce, Sam and James. Their own weapon turned against them. No one ever responded, but that didn't keep the eerie feeling of being monitored, of being constantly watched from settling in.

The day they didn't bring her breakfast, Anna knew something was up. That feeling only increased when Rollins came to get her, and led her handcuffed self in the opposite direction of the bathroom. When she questioned him on the change of routine, he ignored her. Still upset with her getting the best of him and trying to run. She just had to make things difficult. Rollins didn't appreciate playing babysitter to her. He'd call himself more of a warden, but he wasn't even allowed to lay a hand against her, Rumlow's orders.

When they finally stopped in front of another metal door, Rollins simply gave her a shrewd look of warning before opening it to reveal a pristine room. The whole left side wall was covered with a large monitor and across from it sat a plush looking version of a hospital bed where Anna found Rumlow. An extremely burnt Rumlow with a couple tubes running out of him, but Rumlow just the same. As the door clicked shut behind her, Rumlow slowly rose to a seated position while Rollins forced Anna towards a chair and table beside the bed.

Anna had to admit, this was not what she had expected. There, sitting on the table, were two plates filled with eggs, bacon, and toast, complete with a pitcher of orange juice. Apparently she was to have breakfast there. Which would be difficult, given her handcuffed state. Before she could point that out, Rollins was pushing her down and replacing her handcuffs with ankle cuffs. When he was finished he left without a word, leaving Anna in awkward silence with Rumlow staring at her expectantly. If he was waiting for her to say something, he'd be waiting a long time. Anna had no intentions of talking, or eating for that matter. Even though the food smelled delicious and her stomach betrayed her by grumbling. It wasn't happy with her food protest.

"Hello Anna. You're looking lovely." Rumlow finally commented when he realized Anna wasn't going to say anything.

"You look like you walked through Hell. Literally." Anna threw back as she took in his third degree burns. They looked painful, which gave Anna a little satisfaction. Served him right to be in pain, kidnapping her and all.

"All thanks to your Captain and his merry men." Rumlow grumbled, reaching for the pitcher and pouring a glass of juice before taking a long swig of it. When he was finished, he filled both his and Anna's glass. Anna simply stared at it, her arms crossed in defiance. "You're foods going to get cold."

"What do you want from me? Why am I here?" Hydra didn't take her so she could have tea parties with their agents. And they hadn't taken her for bait, because they had had all the Avengers together and hadn't taken a single one of them. Anna was tired of being jerked around. She wanted to know what Hydra wanted with her.

"I thought it'd be nice to have breakfast in a more civilized setting. Seeing as you haven't touched any of the food we send to your room." Civilized. Seriously. Hydra had locked her in a metal prison. Even now her feet were chained together. Nothing about her situation was civilized.

"Because ankle cuffs really scream civilized," Anna couldn't help but mutter under her breath. Although Rumlow's eyes flashing let her know he had heard her. So did his comment that he wouldn't have had to chain her up if she wouldn't try to run away.

"Chaining me up might stop me from running, but it won't prevent my brother and the Avengers from finding me. It won't prevent James from tearing Hydra apart." Taking her would only worsen his vendetta against the agency who stole so much from him already.

"Ah, yes. Well you see, we've had their 'hostages' feeding them some coordinates to less important Hydra facilities. To keep them preoccupied. I was hoping to take some of them down along the way, but they've proven to be resilient." Rumlow responded with a smirk, flipping a switch on the remote that had laid dormant on the table. It had the monitor glowing to life, showing footage of the Avengers in the ruins of some building.

It was the first time Anna had visual proof that they were alright. It had her rising from her seat to get a closer look, only to stumble with her feet chained together. Remaining where she was she kept her eyes glued to the screen, her heart constricting tighter when a close up of James flashed across it, his expression murderous while his eyes betrayed a hint of despair. It had Anna murmuring his name quietly and wishing she could reach out to him, let him know she was alive. That she was okay, all things considered.

"He was born out of violence you know," Rumlow spoke up, not liking the look on Anna's face as she studied the image of the asset. "It's all he knows. And when it comes down to it, the asset will always hurt people. I wouldn't get too attached if I were you."

"His name is James. He's not your asset or Hydra's fist. He's a person." Anna ground out, tired of Hydra talking about James as if he were a machine. He was no machine, he was a man. Rumlow on the other hand was starting to see a week hadn't quite been long enough to break Anna's attachment. Somehow her connection with the asset had grown deeper. It had him trying a different tactic.

"It's not like you could have a normal relationship with him. He wasn't built to be gentle. Trust me, the girls given to him as rewards were always badly beaten." Anna tried not to react to Rumlow's statement, knowing that was what he was fishing for. However, she couldn't keep the slight shock from slipping onto her face.

She'd never considered James' past when it came to women, and it's not something she particularly wanted to contemplate now. Even if what Rumlow claimed was true, Anna had decided a while ago that she wouldn't judge or blame James for his past. Any part of his past. He accepted hers. Besides, that was the Winter Soldier, not James.

"Normal is overrated. And James was perfectly gentle with me," Anna finally retorted, unable to keep a blush from touching her cheeks. Normally she'd refuse to talk about her personal life with anyone. But she made an exception then, simply because she had a feeling it would piss Rumlow off to know Hydra's 'weapon' was more human than they cared to admit.

In one way, Anna had been correct. Rumlow was pissed, illustrated by his burnt, chapped skin spreading tight over the fists he made upon her enlightenment. He just wasn't pissed for the reason she thought. It had more to do with the fact that Anna had just admitted to being intimate with the asset. That was an image Rumlow didn't need burned into his skull, but there was no unhearing it. What did Anna even see in the Winter Soldier? He was a broken shell of a man who would always have blood on his hands.

"Now back to my question. What does Hydra want with me? A real answer this time." Anna insisted, feeling as though she had just gained the upper hand. Her admittance of her personal life with James had surprised Rumlow into silence. She didn't know that the shock value of her statement was pushing Rumlow towards doing something worse than handcuffs, imprisonment, and constant surveillance.

…

James hadn't been sleeping well. The nightmares had returned full force, and that time not only did they include Anya, but they stuck with him during waking hours. Because living not knowing where Anya was, if she was alive, and not being able to hold her in his arms, was a nightmare. A nightmare made worse by the fact that he slept in the room they had been intimate in, alone. He refused to wash the coverings, even though waking up to Anya's scent and remembering she was gone was torture. It was a small part of her he had to hang onto. Broken headboard and all.

Steve had given up on his way of conducting the interrogations halfway through the week, when they hadn't gotten anywhere. Needless to say, James' methods initially proved more fruitful as they ended up getting several coordinates out of one of the agents. The agent claimed he didn't know which one they had taken Anna to. He stated those were the only ones he personally knew about. James sensed that the agent wasn't being completely forthcoming, however he'd let up on him in order to pass the information on to the others. From there Tony had ordered the group to round up their things and the hostages. They were returning to Stark Tower to get Jarvis to analyze the coordinates and give them a 3D model of the grounds and buildings located there.

It was hard, leaving the lake house. Though James knew the coordinates would probably bring them a step closer to Anya, he still felt as if he was leaving a piece of her behind. And with each coordinate they zoned in on that didn't have Anya there, James felt a little of his hope die as well as a piece of his heart break. He channeled that into determination, fueling his anger towards Hydra. Every raid they came back empty handed with, James would set to work on the hostages, demanding they give up more coordinates. Coordinates they claimed they didn't have. But they were lying. Something James proved each time he forced them to cough one up.

By the end of the week, James was struggling to keep it together. When he managed to get new coordinates, bringing them to Steve first so they could formulate an attack plan to present to the others, James couldn't help the feeling of hope rising up stronger than before. This would be the one. This would be the Hydra facility where Anya was being kept. That feeling of hope had Steve and him butting heads on the plan of attack. Steve thought they should attack the weapons section first, as they had always done. James wanted to head straight to the holding facility.

"I remember this going differently back during the war. I was the one keen on getting the prisoners first and the weapons second." Steve broke the tension with a wry smile as he leaned against the holographic map before them. It was easy for him to see the toll all this was taking on Bucky. His eyes had dark circles underneath them from the lack of sleep he'd gotten. His clothes were rumpled and unkempt. Not to mention he only ate when forced, or before a raid when he needed his strength. Losing Anna had torn him apart.

"They didn't have someone I care about back then." James insisted, raking his hand over his face. All he wanted was Anya back. With each raid, the thought of Hydra moving her before they got to the holding section where their hostages were tore James up, and had him plowing through the agents as fast as possible to make it to the prisoners. None of which had been Anya.

"I'll use your own logic against you. If we hit the weapons first, the raid will go easier and we can get the prisoners without risking harm to them or ourselves." Steve had been sold on seeing Bucky's side of things when he'd come out with that one during the war. It was a logical reasoning as to why they should take out weapons first and save hostages second. Plus it kept the hostages out of the line of fire.

"Why did I have to be so smart?" James grumbled, consenting to follow Steve's plan. He couldn't fight his own logic. So he simply suited up before following Steve out to tell the others. They were on their way to the coordinates within the half hour, racing the sunrise.

The plan was to have Tony go blasting in first in his suit, with Sam keeping an eye from above for any surprises. It was up to him to catch if anyone was trying to get Anna out of there while the others were busy breaking down the front door. The goal was to debilitate the base and find the holding section. James was given the all clear to kill as long as they got one hostage. In case Anna wasn't there, the team wanted a new source of coordinates.

Steve knew they'd have enough time to take a hostage before Bucky went on a murderous rampage. Bucky never completely lost it until he found the holding cells and discovered Anna wasn't there. That was always when he went on a killing spree, at least it was his pattern on the last few raids. But Steve was hoping this time Bucky wouldn't be pushed over the edge. He was hoping this time Anna was in this compound. Not only for his best friend's sake, but for Anna's as well. Steve could keep it together better than Tony and Bucky, but he was just as freaked about Anna being back in Hydra's grasp.

"We can hold them off from here Bucky. Go!" Steve cried out as he charged through several agents with his shield. Clint was providing cover for James as he ran, sending an arrow through an agent's hand and pinning him to the wall as James took off down the corridor to the left. According to Jarvis' schematics, that's where any hostages would be. Whipping around a corner he ducked just in time to avoid an agent's fire before knocking him unconscious with his fist. He didn't have time to make sure he was dead, the sooner he got to the holding cells the better.

There were twenty holding cells in this compound. More than the last. James hope soared involuntarily as he started busting in the doors. The first few were empty, while a couple of the others held shell shocked civilians who ran as soon as James cleared the doorway. He didn't stick around to help, as he wasn't concerned with anyone who wasn't Anya. The civilians could find their own way to safety, they didn't need him holding their hands. So as they ran, he continued to bust down doors. James didn't start feeling nervous until he'd reached the last cell. Taking a deep breath, he kicked in the door to find the room completely empty. As the disappointment washed over him, he let his muscles tense and coil. Anya wasn't there. Hydra still had her and they seemed to be enjoying this cat and mouse game they were forcing him to play. It had James pulling the semi-automatic from his back and shooting every agent he met with a bullet in one of the kill zones. His favorite was the lungs. It let blood slowly start filling up the lungs until the person drowned in it. A slow, painful death. Nothing less than what Hydra deserved.

"She's not here," James announced tightly when he met back up with the others in the 'entrance' hall to the bunker. He knew it wasn't necessary to say, seeing as she wasn't with him, but it helped the truth sink in and fueled his desire to torture the newest hostages into giving up more coordinates.

…

"We need you to analyze blood samples," Rumlow finally answered Anna's question, choosing the truth. He'd give Anna one last try to do this on her terms. To accept the opportunity he was giving her. Though his answer only seemed to confuse Anna, as she insisted research wasn't her thing. Unless it dealt with PTSD or prosthetics.

"Pierce disagreed," Rumlow responded, remembering the intel Pierce had shared with him. How Anna had experience working with the blood of those affected by the staff.

"Pierce was insane," Anna threw back, not wanting any part in a plan Pierce had come up with. He was worse than Rumlow. And that was saying something.

"Perhaps, but that doesn't change the fact Hydra needs your help." Rumlow couldn't deny Pierce had been a bit eccentric. He'd definitely dove off the deep end when he had threatened Anna's life. Especially after promising Rumlow Anna wouldn't be harmed. Even with that, he had been on to something with recruiting Anna for the research.

"Help with what?" Anna asked before she could stop herself, curious as to what exactly had been so important that Hydra had gone up against the Avengers to get her. Besides, she could use the answers she got there to help the Avengers figure out just what Hydra was planning, given if they ever found her.

"Creating a miracle weapon." None of their scientists or doctors could figure out what they were doing wrong. How to make the test subjects survive the experiments. That's where Anna came in.

"Weapons are my brother's area." Anna had no idea how her brother's inventions worked, let alone how to build them. They had definitely grabbed the wrong Stark if they wanted weapons.

"No, this directly pertains to you. You know how Loki's staff manipulates the body, internally." Rumlow insisted, tired of Anna's constant denials and questions. Though her rebellious attitude towards SHIELD had originally attracted him to her, he was beginning to lose his patience waiting for her to see she was on the wrong side.

"You have the staff? How?" As soon as the question had slipped out of Anna's mouth she realized the stupidity in it. Hydra had infiltrated SHIELD, meaning their agents had access to artifacts SHIELD had collected from New York. Including Loki's staff. "You stole it."

"You can't steal something from an organization that no longer exists. Anyways, the point is, we've been using it to create our own form of super soldiers. Better than your Captain. But they're not surviving. Which is where you come in." Anna's experience with helping Barton recover from the effects of the staff had placed her on the top list of candidates for this research. Of course, Pierce hadn't wanted to bring her in until their own scientists and doctors, those who were loyal to the cause, had failed. Now that they had, it was time for Plan B.

"I'm not that smart. And what makes you think I have any idea how to deal with a person who's been affected by alien magic?" Anna didn't want to do it. She knew she probably could, and she also knew if Rumlow knew that, he'd make it a lot worse on her if she didn't cooperate. Acting like she didn't have a clue would save her from seeming like she wasn't cooperating.

"You're a Stark. Don't play dumb. Hydra knows everything that SHIELD knows, including your treatment of Barton after New York." Anna wasn't aware SHIELD knew of her helping Clint. It shouldn't have come as a surprise. SHIELD made a point to know everything especially when it came to the agents they employed.

"Let's say I can." Anna relented, allowing Rumlow that point. "Your first attempt at a human weapon turned against you, what makes you think these new ones won't as well?" No matter how hard Hydra tried, no matter how many times they had wiped James, they hadn't been able to control him. James' free will was strong enough to break free of their control. What made Rumlow think any of his other test subjects wouldn't do the same?

"We're working on that concern. If all goes accordingly, that won't be an issue." Anna had no idea what Rumlow meant by that, and she doubted if he'd explain if she asked for details. Hydra would only share with her the information they deemed necessary for her to give them what they wanted.

"What will you do with these super soldiers? If you get what you want?" She had a bad feeling Hydra would set the soldiers loose on the Avengers. In order to get rid of the one group of people that might stand a chance at stopping them. Especially now that SHIELD had disbanded.

"Use them to win us the world." Rumlow stated with a smile that had his eyes looking a bit crazy. Perhaps his brain had also been burnt like the rest of his body.

"Did Hydra really not learn their lesson with the whole Red Skull World War II fiasco? Let me refresh your memory. Red Skull died and you lost." Every time they tried to 'win the world' it blew up in their faces. Anna couldn't see what made this time any different. It was the same fanatical belief system with the same goal, and the same brainwashed oafs running the operation.

"We didn't lose. We're still here, stronger than ever." Rumlow insisted, spreading his arms as wide as he could with his burns and the tubing attached to them. In fact Rumlow was hoping it did go like before, with the asset taking the place of the Captain in cold icy crash to the death. "So, will you help us?"

"No." Anna replied simply, wondering what made Rumlow think she'd even consider helping out Hydra again. This was different than helping to heal a person after battle. This was creating an army of super soldiers for a group that were just as radical as the Nazi's.

"I see," Rumlow whispered darkly, sighing in discontent. "Well then, I'm sorry Anna. I really didn't want to have to do this. I'd hoped it wouldn't come to this. But you leave me no choice. Just know, you're forcing me to do this."

Anna was thoroughly confused at Rumlow's little rant. What did he mean she was forcing him to 'do this'? Do what? Kill her? Her confusion only grew when she saw him lifting a different remote from the spot beside him on the bed. Keeping eye contact with her, Rumlow pushed the button. It only took a few seconds for an excruciating, burning pain to work its way from the base of Anna's neck to her head. Unable to refrain, she let out a cry of pain, tears falling rapidly from her eyes as she placed her hands on either side of her head.

* * *

 _A/N Yay! I got this one out early! Hope you enjoyed it. It's quite a bit longer than the last chapter as well. Thank you all who have continued on from the last story to this one! It means a lot. As for the_ _ **next chapter, I'm going to try to get it out by**_ _ **Monday night**_ _._ _ **However, if I don't it won't be posted until Saturday afternoon**_ _as I am going to Disney World from May 26_ _th_ _to the 29_ _th_ _. Meaning no computer access._

 _Onto Guest Review Responses:_

 _First to keshigomu on your review on Chapter 30 of Rehabilitate: Glad you enjoyed the chapter so much you re-read it! That's awesome. Relieved to hear you appreciated the love scene as it was! Sorry for the whole having Anna taken, it was all part of the plot. I'll try to let Anna hit Rumlow if I can work it in. I'm sure she'd appreciate that._

 _To the guest who's looking forward to the next chapter, I'm glad I've got you eager for the next chapter!_

 _To the guest who loved this chapter as well as the one shot: I'll try to work in more one shots in the future, specifically intimate ones if that's what the readers wish!_

 _To Sofia: Happy to hear you're already looking forward to the next chapter and that you love my characters and story! Hope you enjoyed this update!_

 _To Wheezy: It made me smile to read your comment and know you kept refreshing the page till Relentless showed up. Thanks for noticing the time I take in my stories. I'm glad it shows! And thanks for the compliment, very happy to hear you think I'm talented in writing! Hopefully you continue to believe that as this story progresses._


	3. Chapter 3

"Still watching the Stark channel I see," Rollins commented as entered Rumlow's room. Every time Rollins was in his room, it seemed Anna was filling the screen. He couldn't understand how watching her work on blood samples could be interesting. It was like watching paint dry in Rollins' opinion.

"What do you want Rollins?" Rumlow sighed, turning his attention from the screen to his second in command. Lately Rollins had been making similar comments, claiming he was becoming obsessed. Just because he wanted to make sure the device was working, didn't mean he was obsessive.

"We found something of interest in Stark's email," Rollins replied, grabbing the remote and switching the monitor to show Anna's email account. It was under Rumlow's orders that they sift through the doctor's emails. Rumlow wanted to know what memories he needed to alter, even though Rollins had already warned him to take it slow with the memory modifications. To keep it simple. Having Stark think she'd been working for Hydra on the special project for a while was all Hydra needed. They didn't need to modify her personal memories. Of course Rumlow disagreed.

Rumlow wanted a clean slate with Anna. Even if that meant forcing her to think well of him. He'd do whatever was necessary to have her see what she should have from the beginning. That Rumlow would be good to her, good for her. Unlike the asset. That was when Rollins started voicing his opinions of Rumlow being obsessed.

"She hasn't gotten anything but emails from the hospital for months. But this one came in last night." Stark wasn't a very social butterfly. Most of her communications had been for work, until last night. Apparently one of her old college roommates was just coming back into the country after being on tour in Europe with the New York City Orchestra. She wanted to meet up with Anna whenever she happened to be in New York City next.

"Tell me Rollins," Rumlow started after reading the email. "What do you think the chances are that the Avengers are monitoring Anna's email as well?"

"Fairly good sir, they're getting desperate." With each raid Rollins observed, he could tell the frustration was rising for all of the Avengers. It was probably enough to drive them to exploit all possible connections with Anna.

"I want you to reply to the girl. Set a meeting for this weekend." Rumlow reported before switching the monitor back to Anna.

"Sir?" Rollins questioned, confused as to why they would respond to the girl's email. The girl was in an orchestra, she wasn't bound to be any use to Hydra.

"It's all about dividing and conquering, Rollins." Rumlow responded with a smile that was more crazy than happy. The crazy faded from his eyes when movement from the monitor drew his attention away. Anna was gripping her head, while her eyes darted around the room in confusion. Reaching for the handheld device beside him he began making adjustments on the screen until Anna slumped in her chair, passed out. "Take her to her room. And be gentle, I'll be watching."

…

The pain pulsing through Anna's head had eventually caused her to black out, and when she regained consciousness she was still in Rumlow's room. However her feet were unchained and breakfast had been replaced with lunch. Her head felt fuzzy as she tried to remember what she had been doing there. Then it came to her, she was there to request her lab equipment be updated. She couldn't be expected to find the key to the survival of the procedure with what she had to work with.

"Brock, I need better equipment. The microscopes alone aren't able to magnify to the strength required to observe the minute changes in the cells." Anna began her argument, only to be stopped with a raised hand from Rumlow.

"You will get the equipment you require," he assured her, surprising her at the ease of which he consented. "Now I insist you join me for lunch. Since the formalities are over." Rumlow couldn't help but smile at just how well the device was working. Not only did Anna believe she worked with Hydra, she had called him Brock. He couldn't remember her ever calling him by his first name. It was always agent or Rumlow.

"I am rather hungry. I skipped breakfast." Anna admitted, accepting the invitation. She couldn't recall the reason why she hadn't eaten that morning, she only knew she hadn't. Her growling stomach was a witness to that. In fact, she felt as if she hadn't eaten in days.

Brock did most of the talking while they ate. Anna was too busy stuffing her face with food like she'd never get a chance to eat again. She was aware of how rude she was being, but she couldn't bring herself to slow down. Food just tasted so good. As soon as it was gone, Anna was eager to excuse herself, however she didn't want to seem rude. Especially not after Brock had given verbal consent to providing her with better equipment. She wasn't sure how much longer the centrifuge she had could hold on.

So she waited patiently for Brock to finish eating his food before excusing herself, thanking him once more for his acceptance of her proposal. When she returned to the lab, it was to find the centrifuge she had left running had stopped running, not because it had finished its task, but because it had finally died out. Tossing out the now useless blood samples, Anna busied herself with taking apart the broken equipment so it would be easier for the agent on clean up duty to take away. After that she was forced to return to her room to bide her time until she got working equipment. There wasn't much research she could do in the meantime. Thankfully, it only took a matter of hours before Anna got the equipment she had asked for. Rollins was the one to lead her to them, and had left her to her work shortly after. Not that Anna minded, she preferred working in silence and solitude. It helped her concentrate, and she'd need that concentration to find the answer Hydra had hired her to find.

The blood samples supposedly held the answer to people surviving the procedures. At least, that's what Anna was trying to prove. Not that the task was particularly easy. It involved hours sitting in front of microscopes, analyzing the blood cells and recording her observations. There were other small tests she was allowed to perform, mainly to see how the blood cells reacted to certain chemicals and electrical pulses. Something that always led back to microscopes and observations.

Anna was never told whose blood she was looking at. All she knew was the blue vials contained blood from before the successful procedure and the green vials contained blood from the same people after the procedure. The fact that there were only two survivors had led to her research. She needed to find answers to why those two were the only survivors. Of course that would be easier if she could physically examine the patient's. As it was, Hydra liked to compartmentalize.

Anna couldn't remember when or why she started working for Hydra. When she stopped to think about it, it made her head hurt. That didn't stop her from trying to remember. It was as she was switching out blood samples that it hit her, flashes of memories: a hospital, and an eagle logo. Were they places she used to work? As more images flashed through her head, the pain increased and caused Anna to grip her head in an attempt to stop the pain and focus on the images. Because a voice inside her was screaming that those images were the truth. Before she could make sense of anything she felt her vision darkening as she slipped into unconsciousness.

Rollins retrieved Anna shortly after she passed out, carrying her back to her cell. As much as he didn't like her, Rollins had to admit what Rumlow was doing to her was a crueler form of torture than any he'd seen. Including those they'd used on the asset. Of course, Rumlow didn't see it that way. He was beyond logical thinking when it came to Stark. Rollins was not. And though he could admit the device was a useful way to get Stark to cooperate and help Hydra, it went too far to modify her personal memories. What did it matter to Hydra if she kept her personal memories, as long as she came up with a solution to their dilemma?

…

"Tell me where she is!" James thundered at the agent, splaying the agent's fingers out across the table and holding his knife above them in warning. James wouldn't hesitate to chop his fingers off one at a time until he told James where they were holding Anya.

It had been days since the last raid, and they had yet to receive any further coordinates. In James' mind, it meant they were getting closer. Hydra was running out of false leads to give them. It had James demanding they work the agents they still had harder, take it a step further to get the answers they needed. The Avengers didn't agree. While Tony was eager to get his sister back, he didn't think they were going about it the best way. He thought technology could save Anya. James disagreed. Which was why he was currently interrogating the agent alone. He had sneaked down to the holding area in the garage while Tony and Bruce were busy working on some way to find her via the computer.

"Rumlow's had her for over a week. Trust me, there's not much left that you can save." That comment had James slamming the knife down, slicing clean through two of the agent's fingers. The resulting holler of pain echoed around the large garage, as James once again demanded to know where Hydra had Anya.

It was becoming unbearable, going on raid after raid and coming back without her. James no longer slept, simply lied awake at night fully aware of the absence beside him. Knowing she was in the hands of Hydra made it all so much worse. The agent's words had hit a nerve, as he knew Hydra was capable of tearing a person apart from the inside, out. The thought of them doing that to Anya had fire pumping through James' veins as he stared down the agent. When the agent didn't answer him, James readied himself to take more fingers. Before he could bring the knife down, Steve was interrupting, having finally found him.

"Bucky! What are you doing?" Steve asked as he crossed the room towards his friend and the Hydra agent who was supposed to be in the make-shift prison.

"Getting answers," James answered, flipping the knife in his hand before bringing it down against the agent's middle finger.

"Come on Bucky, he's not saying anything. You're just torturing him for the sake of hurting him." Steve murmured calmly. He knew Bucky was on the edge of completely losing it. The Winter Soldier had been let out too many times when interrogating the hostages, and now Bucky was seeing it as the only way to get results, to Anna back. "Anna wouldn't want that."

It was Steve's second comment that had James' clenching the knife harder before letting it drop to the table. Steve was right, Anya hated unnecessary violence. Hell, she hadn't wanted him to torture her ex if it wasn't necessary. James had tried to be better, for her, and now that she was gone it was like an avalanche he couldn't control, as he felt himself slipping back down the slope to the Winter Soldier. If he didn't get her back, he felt as if he wouldn't be anything but an assassin. Anya was the one who had broken through the ice wall of his memories and his emotions. She was the one who made him feel alive. Without her, he was losing his grip on himself. Feeling the sharp pinpricks of tears forming behind his eyes, James abruptly crossed the room till he got behind the cover of a car before falling to his knees. Hanging his head, James couldn't prevent a couple tears from falling, crashing against the floor.

With Anya gone, it physically hurt. He needed her back, to help him keep it together. James just didn't know how to do that without letting himself revert back to his old ways. He'd tried to do it the Avenger way, but their way wasn't showing any results. They weren't any closer to finding Anya than they had been when she'd first been taken. Which left him no choice but to do things his way. If it got him Anya, it would be worth it. At that decision, James wiped away any evidence of tears and straightened up. He was ready to get back to interrogating the agent his way, only to find Steve had wrapped up the agent's hand and returned him to his cell.

"I wasn't finished with him." James insisted, only for Steve to counter him on that point. He claimed James had done more than enough. The agent would have spilled information by now if he had it.

"He has to know something." Desperation was creeping into James' voice, and Steve was definitely picking up on it. "I can't lose her."

"She wouldn't want you to lose yourself in the process of finding her." Steve knew that was the truth. Anna would never want James to save her if it meant he changed who he was. "Besides, Tony is working with Bruce in the lab. They're going to find some way to use Hydra's technology against them," Steve reassured Bucky halfheartedly. The truth was, Steve wasn't too confident in Tony's abilities to locate Anna via computers. He knew technology was Tony's thing, but so far it had only gotten them in trouble where Anna was concerned.

"Technology didn't work the first time, what makes you think we can rely on it now?" Tony's technology hadn't saved Anya from being taken like he'd promised. And it had James reluctant to trust in it again. "I can't just sit around and do nothing. I need to find Anya."

"You're right." Steve agreed, knowing it would do Bucky some good to be doing something to help. He just needed to focus his energy on something that didn't lead to violence. "I think it's time we put our old fashioned war skills to use."

…

When Anna came to, she was lying on her bed without the memory of getting there. Putting it off as exhaustion from overworking, she made her way towards the showers. It felt nice to clean up and feel the warm water rushing over her. When her fingers brushed over a scar on her shoulder blade that Anna knew was from a lab accident, it had a rush of feelings surging through her, not one of them fear. An image of her lips pressed against a man's flashed through her mind, but before she could focus on it, it had disappeared. It left her confused as to why that image had come when she thought about her scar. There had been no one else in the lab when she'd gotten hurt, and Brock had been the one to find her, just before she lost too much blood. The details were hazy, but she knew that much. Even if it wasn't real, Anna wanted that image to return. Wherever it had come from, it had felt nice.

When the image didn't return, Anna finished up quickly so she could head back to her lab. She was so close to an answer, she could feel it, a breakthrough was coming. All she had to do was keep pressing forward until it did. Though, it was a little frustrating when a lot of her research meant waiting on the machines to finish analyzing samples. It was as she was waiting for the centrifuge, once again, that Anna decided to take a slightly different tactic to her research. In the corner of the room there were file cabinets filled with files of all agents and volunteers that had been a part of the previous super soldier program. Perhaps she could find something useful in there.

She didn't reach his folder until an hour later. It was much thicker than the rest, and dated back to the end of World War II. The Winter Soldier, he was a legend within Hydra, and for some odd reason his full name printed across the first page, before he'd become an assassin, struck something within her. More memories flashed through her mind of the soldier as well as those same feelings as in the shower. Which was odd, seeing as she'd never met the soldier. He'd been based out of a different compound before he'd gone rogue. She had seen the footage of what he could do, which had instilled very different emotions inside her, mostly fear. It made no sense that his name evoke something other than those remnants of fear for what he was capable of.

Before Anna could explore those emotions, she was interrupted. Rollins knocking on Anna's laboratory door had her stuffing the folder in the inside pocket of her lab coat. Her curiosity pushed her to read more, but for some reason she didn't think she was supposed to look at that particular file. True, it had been with the other files in her lab, of which she had access too, but something in her gut told her Hydra wouldn't want her learning more about the Winter Soldier.

…

Apparently the war skills Steve had been referring to had been cartography, as there as a huge map of the lake house and the surrounding areas splayed out across the floor of the gym. They were trying to eliminate the possible location Anya could be, based off of the last coordinates recorded from the tracker and the direction the vehicle was headed. They'd already crossed off several options, as they had already searched Hydra bases at those locations. It left them with five possibilities that they hadn't looked into yet.

"Which one do we hit first?" James asked as he stared at the possible locations where Anya could be. He had to admit, Steve's idea had relaxed him a bit. It made him feel as if he was being proactive and moving closer to finding Anya.

"I'd say the closest one would be the best bet, but we should probably go over it with the team." And there was the word James was beginning to hate: 'team.' James was not accustomed to working with a group, and from his experience he was quickly learning he preferred to work alone. Other than Steve, he seemed to clash with the others in the group and their ideas on what actions should be taken. It was much easier when he didn't have to report to others what he was doing.

"I'm not waiting to tell Tony just so he can shut it down." James was fairly certain Tony would shut down any idea that he didn't come up with to save Anya. He knew Tony wanted to get his sister back, but his ego was getting in the way.

"If we work on Bruce first, he can back us up and make Tony see reason." Bruce was about the only person who could do that. Getting him on their side would practically ensure Tony fall in line with them. Steve could understand why Bucky was hesitant to agree. He didn't want to wait at all when it came to getting Anna back, and a part of Steve felt James wanted to be the one to save her instead of Tony. "I promise, if Tony declines I'll go with you on this."

James simply nodded his head in acceptance, feeling half defeated when he did. Though it was nice to know Steve would have his back, and would back him up on his plan regardless of what Tony said. It reminded him of before, during the war. He had been getting more snippets of memories and images ever since he'd started working with Steve on common goals. Of all the people in Stark Tower, James mistrusted Steve the least. After the raids, and especially today, James might even admit he trusted him.

* * *

 _A/N so this is waaaayyy late. Later than I wanted and I apologize for that. It was beyond my control. I came back from a fun filled vacation at Disney ready to crank out the rest of this chapter and post it, only to find my computer had basically died. I had to talk to geek squad at Best Buy, buy an external hard rive to back up everything I could and refresh/reset my computer and reinstall Microsoft office. It was a pain. But, now my computer seems to be running smoothly again, hopefully it remains that way. I hope you enjoyed this update. Once again sorry it took so long. And hang in there for me, a reunion of Janya will be coming soon. I promise. I hate these non Janya chapters as much as you. I much prefer Janya together. I'm anticipating getting the next update up by Friday night. I'm starting back at work this week so that means it's questionable when I'll get time to write. Plus I have to start studying for the Board so my doctor of pharmacy can be put to use and I can become a licensed pharmacist._

 _Onto Guest review responses!_

 _To Wheezy: I did update early last time, sorry about this late update. Thank you for reviewing and for saying you'll review on every chapter here on out. I'm very excited about that. I usually post in the author's note when I am going to be updating next. It's nice to hear you like this so much you were checking twice a day though!_

 _To the guest who said they loved this story and to keep it coming: here it is, hope you enjoyed it._

 _To the guest who's really looking forward to the next chapter: hope it was worth the wait!_

 _To the guest who reviewed IN A WAY, HE WAS HER FIRST, thank you for your lovely comments. I'm glad you think I'm good at writing those scenes. :)_

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	4. Chapter 4

It took several days before Steve and James could get to Tony and Bruce, much to James' chagrin. He was practically threatening Steve that he would not hesitate to hurt him if that's what it took for him to go to the coordinates on his own. He didn't want to wait any longer than he had. Eventually, between Steve and Clint, he was able to be talked down. Meanwhile, Bruce and Tony were oblivious to James' struggle, and inadvertently Steve and the rest of the gang's trouble, as they were holed up in the lab. The two refused to allow anyone access to the stairs or elevator as they ran different algorithms and even resorted to sifting through Anna's cell phone use and email, in the off chance they were used or turned on by someone at Hydra and it would ping her location.

It was when an email was sent from Anna's account, a response to a recent email from a friend asking to get together, that Tony immediately started tracing the location of the computer it was sent from. Some random hacker wouldn't respond to an innate email from a friend. No, it was Hydra who responded. The shady thing was, there was no reason Hydra would respond to it either. At least, not that Tony or Bruce could decipher. Which meant Hydra meant for them to read it, maybe even to locate the computer it came from. That conclusion had Tony yelling for Jarvis to open access to the lab and get everyone's butts downstairs pronto.

James wanted to boycott the order, not liking that Tony refused to see Steve and him when they had found something helpful, yet demanded everyone come clambering when he found something. It was James' desperation and desire to get Anya back that had him following Steve and Sam down to the lab, clutching the map Steve and him and used days ago. He'd been studying it obsessively while he was forced to play the waiting game to see Tony.

"I've traced an email from Anna. I've got a triangulated area to search for her!" Tony announced ecstatically once the team had gathered around him in the lab. Of course, he could have had Jarvis tell the others, but Tony always had loved an audience.

As soon as James saw the area Tony had narrowed down, he moved to the nearest table and spread out the map, comparing Tony's area to the locations Steve and James had deduced. Completely ignoring whatever plan Tony was coming up with, James' eyes flashed between the computer monitor and the map, finding only two areas that Steve and he had come up with that overlapped with the area Tony was able to get electronically. Which logically meant Anna was at one of the two locations.

Of course, Tony did not appreciate Tin Man interrupting him to announce two possible locations Anna could be at, down to the coordinates. He didn't like being showed up. It was his amazing computer and technological skills that had gotten them the triangulated area. Tin Man just had a map and a pen. Putting that aside, Tony had to admit that the fact that his area coincided with Tin Man's coordinates meant something. And it'd be worth it to take the information into consideration.

"Okay, new plan. Tin Man and I will go to the first set of coordinates, Bruce and Legolas will go to the second set, and Capsicle and Pigeon will intercept Emily at the restaurant." Tony spat out the new orders authoritatively.

"Why are we going to the restaurant?" Sam asked, not too happy about receiving orders from Tony. There was no need to be at the restaurant, as he highly doubted Hydra would let Anna out in public, let alone wine and dine with a friend.

"Because the only reason Hydra sent a response was because they knew I'd be watching for it. And if I let Emily go to the restaurant with an off chance that there's a Hydra agent showing up to meet her and hurt her, Anna will kill me." Emily was basically the only friend Anna retained from her college days, which were surprisingly dull years. Apparently she hadn't gotten the party hardy gene like he had, not that Tony had complained at all. Anyways, if Tony didn't protect Anna's college roommate and the only girl that could get Anna to leave the hospital on occasion, he wouldn't hear the end of it.

"But I promised Bucky I'd go with him on this," Steve started, only to be surprised when James claimed it was alright. The reality was, James would be able to do things his way without fighting anyone on it if Steve didn't tag along with him. Tony would most likely go off on his own once they reached the coordinates, meaning James was free to evoke his revenge on Hydra while he searched for Anya. And when he found Rumlow, what James did to the other agents was going to look like child's play.

…

"You know, there's nothing gayer than two men at a nice restaurant together." Sam commented, taking a sip of his water. According to Tony, they were sitting in the middle of the dining room of the restaurant that Hydra had emailed Emily to meet her. Sitting at a table for two with Steve was making Sam feel a little uncomfortable.

"Just keep your eyes peeled for her. Tony said she's Anna's age, pale, blonde, and average height." Steve responded offhandedly as he scanned the tables situated behind Sam. He had no idea what they would do once they did find her. It's not like they could drag her out of the restaurant, and he couldn't see trying to convince her she may be in danger going too well.

"Cause that should narrow it down," Sam muttered. It seemed like most people in Manhattan were blonde, either naturally or through dying their hair.

"She'll also be sitting alone until a Hydra agent comes, if one comes." Steve added helpfully. There were few people who would come to eat at this restaurant alone. Chances are, the girl that fit Tony's description and who was sitting alone was Emily.

"Lone blondie, 9 o'clock," Sam announced shortly after, nodding his head in the direction of the woman. She was sitting down already, so he couldn't tell if she was average height, but she was definitely blonde and pale. And most importantly alone. "What's the plan now?"

"We wait to see if anyone joins her. If someone does, and she seems surprised that it's not Anna, we know it's the right girl." The last thing Steve wanted to do was make a scene by assuming the girl was Emily when she wasn't. "From there we wait to see what Hydra wants with the girl and do everything in our power to prevent them from harming her."

It bothered Steve a little, that he didn't have a better, more precise plan than that. However, it's not like he had a lot of time to prepare for it. Tony sort of just thrust this mission on Sam and him at the last minute, without giving them time to work out the details. They'd barely had time to get a reservation. Thankfully, Tony had connections, and had also told the restaurant to put whatever Steve and Sam ordered on his tab. It would make it easier at the end of the night, if they had to quickly follow the agent and Emily out, to leave the table. Their previous options would be to wait for the check and potentially miss their opportunity to find out what was going on, or to dine and dash. Once Sam had explained the second expression to him, Steve wasn't the biggest fan of it.

"I see movement," Sam murmured, drawing Steve out of his head and back to the mission. Glancing to his right, he saw it as well. A tall, brown haired man making his way towards the blonde. He didn't exactly scream Hydra, but Steve was sure the organizations' agents were able to go undercover if needed.

Moving his eyes to the blonde, Steve noticed she was studiously studying the menu, seeming a bit uncomfortable with waiting alone as her left finger was sliding against the edge of the menu. She didn't seem to notice the man until he was pulling the chair back. Although Steve couldn't hear what was being said from their table, it was easy to see the girl was slightly flustered, trying to explain she was waiting for someone. When the man sat down anyway, his response both verbal and physical had the girl's eyes widening slightly in shock, a touch of fear to them.

The agent did most of the talking, prompted by the few questions it seemed the girl was asking. Steve could guess at the first couple: who was he, how did he know her name, where was Anna, why did he contact her; all the questions that would cross his mind had he been in her position. Whatever the agent's answers were, they were making the blonde nervous. The way she kept glancing around the room, for a means of escape or for someone to help, gave it away.

"Why is he talking to her?" Steve asked the question he had been pondering since the man had sat down. "It doesn't make sense that he'd meet her at all, but why answer her questions? What is Hydra getting out of this?"

Hydra never did anything for the Hell of it. They always had a plan, and they never took unnecessary risks. So it made no sense as to why they had been so reckless in their communications that Tony could trace their location. Nor did it make sense why they were exposing one of their agents just to meet a normal, average girl at a restaurant. What were they gaining from all of this?

"Maybe the guy has trouble getting a date. Girls don't give him the time of day you now?" Sam suggested as he cut into his filet mignon. Since Tony was paying, Sam figured there was nothing wrong with ordering the surf and turf. It's not like the guy couldn't afford it.

"Time." Steve muttered, his brow furrowing as he thought over the facts that had been presented. Tony insisted that Hydra only responded to the email because they were sure that Tony would be monitoring it. They had wanted him to see it. Tony had assumed that meant they were planning something at one of the three locations, but what if they planned something at all three? What if Hydra wanted them to split up, because they were stronger together and it'd be easier to take them down if they were apart?

"It's an ambush." That time Steve's comment, muttered under his breath, drew Sam's attention away from his food.

"What do you mean ambush? It's one agent at a table for two with Anna's friend." Ambushes usually meant there were multiple people against a few. Right now it was more like they were ambushing him.

"Not us, the others. Hydra provided Tony with two different areas. One being this restaurant and two being a very large area where Anna could possibly be located. They were expecting us to split up. To divide us and conquer." Steve muttered swiftly under his breath, angry at himself for not seeing it earlier.

"We have to get to the others than." Sam answered, stuffing a mouthful of lobster in his mouth before rising from his seat. Steve immediately yanked him back down.

"Not yet. We can't leave the girl alone. If my theory is correct, that means we're meant to follow them out into our own ambush. If we're not here, Hydra could take it out on her." It was wrong to leave an innocent bystander to deal with something like that. They had to find a way to get her out of this.

"Here's what we're going to do," Steve started, forming the plan as he was telling it to Sam. "You stay and keep an eye on the girl, if they leave you make sure you follow. I'm going to scope the place out from the outside. If they have people waiting for us, they'd want the ambush to happen away from witnesses. Hopefully I can take care of the agents outside before you follow them out."

Sam had no problem with that plan. It let him finish his dinner and put him in the position of least action possible. How much trouble could the girl get into in the middle of a nice, public restaurant? All he had to do was wait and watch for the girl to leave. He might even have time for desert. As soon as he nodded his agreement with the plan, Steve was rising from his chair, nonchalantly making his way towards the reception area at the front.

Once he was on the street, Steve took in the area and decided if anyone was to ambush them, they'd do it from the alley to the right. It was dark, and tiny, and probably had a dead end. In essence, it was perfect for trapping unsuspecting prey. Hoping to catch whoever was waiting in the alley off guard, Steve moved to the next building over and started climbing the ladder to the roof. It wasn't a high-riser which meant he could do a surprise attack from above once he located the agents without doing too much harm to himself.

The only problem was Hydra seemed to have a similar idea, because he was met with a guy and a gun once he made it to the roof. Raising his hands to signal he wasn't armed Steve went through the possibilities in his head before rushing the guy and twisting his arm just before his finger pressed the trigger. Though he didn't relish in killing, Steve had no choice but to snap the guy's neck. With what he had planned, it'd be an easier way to go, because as soon as the guy went limp in his arms, Steve flung him over the side of the building into the alley.

A few seconds later, Steve was following behind the dead agent, landing in the center of several agents who had circled around their fallen comrade in confusion. Using the gun he'd forced from the dead agent's hand, Steve knocked the first agent unconscious with the butt lt before swerving to miss a bullet from one of the others' guns. He heard rather than saw the bullet tearing through the fabric, most likely his suit jacket, which he had unbuttoned when he was climbing and which had flapped open when he tried to avoid being shot. It had been a close call.

Grabbing the closest agent, Steve used him as a human shield after giving him a quick death with a bullet to the heart. With three agents down, there were still three more to go. Hydra needed to realize, if twelve guys in an elevator couldn't take him down, then 7 guys in an alleyway definitely couldn't. Although, he wasn't exactly dressed for a fight, and this time all the agents had a gun. Still, it would take more than that. Running full speed towards one of the walls, Steve jumped and used the wall to propel himself on top of the nearest agent. The agent managed to hit him in the eye with the butt of his gun before Steve snapped his neck. There was little doubt that he'd have a black eye from it the next day.

Flinging the agent's body at the two remaining agents, Steve rushed them, sending a swift kick to one's knee, and a punch to the other's jaw. It was enough to render them unable to fight back and it didn't take very long to finish them off from there. When Steve was done, he checked his suit, finding several tears in the shirt along with the hole in the jacket, before stepping over the agents' bodies and making his way back towards the mouth of the alley.

Back in the restaurant, Sam was just finished up the crème brulee he'd ordered for desert when the agent and the blonde finally stood to leave after their meal, of which the girl had hardly touched. Sam waited a couple seconds, wiping his mouth with his napkin, before rising to follow them. Making sure to keep a good pace behind them so as not to draw suspicion, Sam was hoping Steve was alright and ready to take on the agent with the girl if he put up a fight.

Once they were outside, the agent started leading the girl to the right, towards the dimly lit side of the building that met with the mouth of a narrow alley. Before the agent could force the girl down it, and before Sam could make a move towards them, the girl spun around, spraying pepper spray into the agent's eyes. When the agent raised his hands to his face, releasing his hold on the girl's arm, she took several steps away, glancing around for a means of escape. Sam immediately went to restrain the agent, figuring of the two, he was the bigger problem at the moment. Seconds later, Steve came jogging out of the alley, looking a little beaten, but none worse the wear. Seeing that Sam had the agent under control, he approached the girl who had made a beeline back to the restaurant.

"Ma'am, wait," Steve called out to her, but she didn't stop. She seemed determined to make it back inside where there were witnesses. "Emily," Steve called, as he grabbed onto her arm loosely. To his surprise she whipped around to face him, pepper spray aimed, but something made her stop.

"I'm not going to hurt you, I swear." Steve started, keeping his hold on her arm in case she tried to run again. He needed to know what the agent had spoken to her about.

"I-I know. You're Steven Rogers. Fought in the 107th." Her statement seemed odd to him. Normally when people recognized him, it wasn't for his war efforts in the 107th. It was with the Howling Commandoes. And most people who recognized him didn't know his birth name, just the propaganda name the Senator had given him all those years ago. Shaking it off, he focused on the issue at hand. He needed to know what Hydra was planning.

"I need your help. Did that man say anything about Anna, about why she wasn't meeting you tonight?" If Hydra had any surprises for them, Steve would prefer to hear about them now so he could be prepared for it when Sam and he went after the others.

"He said he only contacted me because he needed to draw you off to different locations. I was collateral damage. He told me Anna was safe when I asked, that's all. Then he broke down his plan for me. Staged alcohol poisoning." Steve noticed a Southern accent cropping up as the girl became more visibly upset, even shivering when she got to the agent's plan for her. It had Steve shrugging off his suit jacket and handing it to her. Of course, she declined by shaking her head, but finally took it with a blush when he insisted. When he asked if she was alright, she simply claimed, "I will be."

"Do you live far from here? I could walk you home." Steve offered, his politeness taking over. Sam cleared his throat at that, motioning to the agent he had had to knock unconscious in order to stop him from struggling. They had bigger problems to worry about than walking the girl home.

"No I'm fine. I can get myself home. I'll call a cab and wait inside. Just take care of that guy and find Anna." The girl insisted, already backing her way towards the doors of the restaurant. Steve had finally released his hold on her when he was sure she wouldn't bolt before answering his question. "And when you do find her, tell her to call me." She added before ducking into the doors and disappearing from sight.

"Hey Mr. Manners. I could use some of that help you were offering over here," Sam called out to Steve, successfully getting him to come help him get a hold on the unconscious agent. "'I could walk you home?' Seriously?" Sam muttered when Steve finally came to help him with the body.

"She almost died," Steve defended, hoisting the unconscious guy up a little higher. "One of us is going to have to get the car. I don't have enough money to make the valet look the other way for this." Steve muttered, glancing down at the agent. He was going to suggest Sam go to get it, when by some strange miracle the car they'd driven screeched to a stop in front of them. Before either of them had time to question what was happening, the passenger window rolled down to reveal a familiar redhead.

"Couldn't stay out of trouble, could you Rogers?" Natasha commented dryly as she popped the trunk. "We don't have time for detours, it seems you're not the only Avenger I have to save today." She added as she motioned for them to shove the body in the back and get in. The two didn't waste time questioning how she knew what was going on before they followed her directions.

"We need to move fast. Bucky and the others don't know what they're walking into." Steve ordered as he shut the front passenger door behind him. Not that it was necessary, seeing as Natasha had floored it before he could even get his seatbelt on. They ended up doing double the speed limit once they'd left the city, trusting that Jarvis would catch any traffic cops that were out before the cops could catch them.

…

It was several days before Anna had the time to read the Winter Soldier's file. The new blood samples from the volunteers kept her busy in the lab, and Brock constantly insisting she join him for meals kept her occupied outside of the lab. The last time she'd dined with him, Anna had arrived at the end of physical therapy. She was actually surprised at how well Brock was moving, for someone who had had third degree burns covering him head to toe.

That was the night Anna had to excuse herself in the middle of dinner, claiming she had research to do. In truth, she wasn't very comfortable with Brock 'accidently' brushing his hand against hers on the table, and she didn't want to stay around longer than she had to and find out what he meant by it. It wasn't like Brock was bad. All Anna's memories of him were decent ones. It was just something in the back of her mind telling her he wasn't safe, and though she had no proof as to why she should, Anna was trusting that little voice.

Curling up on her bed, Anna pulled the file out from under her mattress before leaning back against the wall, ready to unravel the mystery that was the Winter Soldier. He had been the first to successfully complete the initial program decades ago, which meant the key to its success could be hidden somewhere in his file. Flipping through the pages, past the parts she'd heard of before, Anna couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to what the pages read. More to the assassin than bloodlust. There was truth in the deaths he'd tallied up over the years, but something was itching in the back of her mind, telling her that the file was deliberately leaving out pieces of it. Such as how the Soldier came to be a part of Hydra, and how the soldier coped with memories and emotions from different decades of living after being put through cryofreeze.

In Anna's opinion, cryofreeze was a horribly awful invention of Hydra's, and she was happy to hear it had died out over the decades, no longer used on humans. As a doctor, she deemed it unethical treatment of patients and was happy she wouldn't have to fight Hydra on the issue. Still, from what she understood of it, the person would wake with everything intact, including his memories. It just didn't make sense, and Anna knew she wouldn't make sense of it no matter how much she dwelled on it. So she continued to flip through the file.

What Anna didn't know was that Rumlow was watching her every move, and he knew she had found the file, just as he had planned. If there was one full proof way to have Anna never question the darkness of the Winter Soldier, it was to show her exactly what he had done to her family. The Winter Soldier would only be a monster to Anna after that. Exactly what he should have been all along.

The further Anna got in the file, the more familiar certain names became. None that she knew personally, but people she had heard of. Some even famous. That all changed when she turned another page to find a very familiar news article clipped to a report of one of the soldier's assassinations. Howard and Maria Stark. Her parent's car accident. It hadn't been an accident at all. It had been premeditated and set to look like an accident. The Winter Soldier had killed her parents.

When Anna was finally able to process that information, she felt her heart clench tightly as the familiar stinging sensation of tears built up behind her eyes. Her parents would have made it home that night had it not been for him; had he not targeted them. It was as the tail end of that thought flashed through her head that her door burst open violently, breaking off the hinges as though the person entering assumed it to be locked. With wide eyes Anna watched as the tall figure entered the room, her heartbeat going into overdrive when the light reflected off of the man's metal arm.

* * *

 _A/N Yes this is late, I am aware. I underestimated the time it takes to work and study and write. So from now on_ _ **I will be updating every week on Sunday**_ _. Unfortunately that's what being back to working full time and studying for the Board has forced me to do if I want these chapters to retain the quality they have been at. Hopefully once I've taken the board and Law exam I can increase the amount of updates again. This chapter was fun to write, it had more action, and it added Natasha, so yay for that. There will definitely be more action next chapter :) I hope you all enjoyed this update! Let me know what you think! Oh and I've meant to mention_ _ **I have a Relentless pinterest board up now, no big photos yet but some quotes and music I think fit certain parts of the story so far.**_ _Check it out if you're interested._

 _Now for Guest Review Responses!_

 _To the guest who thanked me for updating and stated it was amazing: so glad you thought so! Thanks for letting me know, and I hope you enjoyed this update as well._

 _To Wheezy: I'm happy that you were happy with the chapter lol. Anya didn't as much get a memory wipe, more like a modification. It's different than what they did to Bucky, and will sort of be explained in chapters to come. But for now, yes you could say she's lost parts of her memory, though she is fighting it. Rumlow is pretty creepy, but there isn't time or room for much more creepiness as the Avengers are getting closer. Hope you liked this update! Thanks for reviewing!_

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	5. Chapter 5

_"You're a little late, I'm already torn_ "

James and Tony didn't really have a game plan for their attack on Hydra. Both were too anxious to get to Anna, they didn't want to stop and take the time to make one. Nor did they take time to properly analyze the blueprints of the building they were going to be busting into. Which was why they ended up separating after making it past the guards at the entrance. They figured they'd have a better chance of finding Anna if they searched separately.

Not having tried too hard to keep their presence on the premises secret, James wasn't surprised when he met a few agents along the way. Using his arm to shield himself as he dodged the bullets, James rushed the closest agent and twisted him into a chokehold that had the agent in front of him and absorbing the bullets of his comrades. Ripping the gun from the dead agent's hand, James began firing back, still using the agent as a human shield while he approached the others. As soon as the other agents laid dead on the floor, James dropped the dead weight of the body and continued his search.

Suspiciously, after the first few, James didn't come across anymore agents. He knew something was up, but he didn't know that Rumlow had watched Tony and him since they set foot on the premises. The few guards Rumlow sent James' way had simply been for stalling purposes. Rumlow was trying to time the Asset finding Anna so that when he found her, any lingering trust she might have with him would be demolished. He needed to give her just enough time to read the Soldier's file far enough to get to her parents. Because of all the security cameras, Rumlow managed to succeed.

…

Anna's eyes widened in fear as the Winter Soldier approached her, her eyes trained on the lethal looking metallic arm that could probably crush her wind pipe with ease. And yet, a part of her mind was screaming at her that he wasn't dangerous. Which was ridiculous, considering what she'd just read. He'd killed dozens of people, had killed her parents, what would make him spare her?

"Anya!" He exclaimed in what sounded like relief as he closed the distance between them. She didn't know how he knew her name, or close enough. He was acting like he knew her, like he was expecting her to know him. It wasn't until he repeated her name a second time that she felt the nudge of a memory against her brain, too flimsy for her to get a good hold on, but persistent enough to keep her trying. That's when the pain started.

"Anya!? What's wrong?" James asked, concerned when Anya's face scrunched in pain as she gripped the sides of her head. He had no idea that the pain was from the confusion at the contradictory feelings and thoughts within her. And Anna had no idea that her brain was fighting against a tiny device in her neck that was feeding her false memories, nor that that was the cause of her pain and confusion. She just wanted it to stop.

"Why are you here?" Anna demanded frantically, removing her hands from her head when the pain finally died down. Glancing around him, she was trying to gauge if she could make it to the door before he caught her. It didn't seem very probable. "Did you come to kill me too?" Anna asked shakily, her mind flashing to her parents. Perhaps he came to finally finish the rest of their family off. _No_ , the voice inside pressed against her mind, telling her he wouldn't hurt her, let alone kill her. "Shut up!" Anna shouted to herself, her hands returning to grip her head once more as the pulsing, sharp pain flared up again.

Fear was starting to overpower the concern James was feeling as he reached out to Anya, wanting to help. He felt his heart drop when she physically flinched at the contact before pulling away from him and pushing herself further back on the bed. When she finally met his eyes, the fear he saw there tore at his heart. Anya had never looked at him like that. She looked torn between fear and anger, as she glanced up at him through the gap in her arms, her hands once again returning to her head. She was still in pain.

It was his worst nightmare come to life. Anya didn't remember him. Worse yet, she thought he wanted to hurt her. It hit him hard. Hydra had truly taken her from him. More specifically, Rumlow had taken her from him. Rumlow was the one who had been looking for her ever since DC. The one who ordered the attack on the roof. Rumlow was the one who had done this, and that thought had anger pumping through James' veins, replacing the unimaginable pain of Anya not remembering.

Taking a step back, James contemplated what to do. He didn't want to leave Anya alone in the state she was in, but he couldn't stay with her and find Rumlow at the same time. His first priority was to get Anya out of there, which posed a problem seeing as she flinched away in fear when he touched her. Though that hurt him, there was no way in Hell he was giving up on her. It would take time and patience, but James had no doubt Anya could come back to him. If he could work past having his mind wiped, than so could Anya. He just had to find a way to get her out of there that didn't give her an anxiety attack.

Oddly enough the solution to James' dilemma came in the form of Steve running through the door in formal wear coupled with his shield. He hadn't had time to change completely into his uniform, but he was able to grab his shield before trying to catch up to Bucky. Natasha had gone to the coordinates Clint and Bruce were at, while Sam had followed Steve. With the Hulk at the other facility, it seemed more logical that less backup would be required. Sam and he had split up once they hit the entrance, figuring that's what Bucky and Tony would have done. Neither were the greatest at working as a team, though Tony had improved since the Avengers.

"Take Anya to safety. Get her to Tony, he'll know what to do." James ordered Steve, glancing back at Anya before bolting out the door. He had an agent to find.

With the Winter Soldier gone, Anya moved to the edge of the bed as she took in the newcomer. He wasn't dressed like the Soldier, in tact team clothes. Instead he wore a dress suit minus the jacket. There were tears in the shirt, and what looked like small blotches of blood. That mixed with the familiar way the Soldier had spoken to him had Anna concluding the two were working together. Which meant she couldn't trust him. She had to remind herself that when the red, white, and blue shield the man carried had a fuzzy memory poking at her brain and claiming he was good. If he was with the Soldier, he couldn't be good.

What Anna needed was to get somewhere safe. Somewhere where she could have a good vantage point of what was going on so she could figure out the best way to avoid being taken or killed. Remembering the security footage playing on the monitors in Brock's room, Anna had her plan. Get to Brock's room and watch what was going down on the security feed. Now all she had to do was get rid of the blonde. That's when she started inching her way off the bed.

"Anna, what's this?" Steve asked, picking up the folder that had been discarded on the floor. Glancing at the tab, Steve realized it was a folder on Bucky. Why did Anna have it? He doubted if Hydra would willingly give it to her, unless it was filled with lies to poison Anna against Bucky.

When Steve looked up to Anna, planning on asking follow up questions on where the file had come from, Steve found the room empty. Anna had left without a word, leaving Steve even more confused. Why had she left without him? And why hadn't Bucky just taken her to safety himself? After finally finding her, Steve would have expected force to be necessary to pull Anna away from Bucky. Realizing he wouldn't get any answers just standing there, Steve grasped the file in his right hand and crossed the room to the door. After listening for a moment and hearing fading footsteps to his right, Steve turned and took down the corridor to his right.

…

It didn't take long for James to find Rumlow. In fact it was easy. So easy it was like Rumlow wanted James to find him. Perhaps he did. He had always been overconfident. However, Rumlow's confidence seemed seriously misplaced seeing as when James found him he was siting up in a hospital bed, his skin shiny from burns that seemed to cover his whole body. He was in no shape to fight and he was alone. James would consider that stupidity rather than confidence.

"Look, it's the prodigal son come home at last. Have you come to repent?" Rumlow spoke first, an arrogant smile on his face. He'd been waiting for this exact moment for a while now and was relishing in it. "If you came for Anna, I'm sure you know by now it's too late. She doesn't remember you. You're nothing more than an assassin to her now. A monster."

"What did you do to her?" James demanded harshly, taking a step closer. All the pain he had felt upon finding Anya with no memory of him, of what they had had together, had turned into pure rage. But he needed to know what Rumlow had done to her before he killed him. So he knew what he needed to undo. "Did you wipe her?"

"I've come up with something much more sophisticated. Anna tried out the prototype. I have to say, it's working very well." Rumlow gloated. Of course, the device wasn't perfect. Anna was still fighting it, which meant constant recalibration. Still, it was doing its job for the most part.

"What did you do!?"James shouted again, his brain trying to process what Rumlow was claiming. If he didn't wipe her, if he removed her memories some other way, James might not know how to bring Anya back to him.

"Why wipe Anna when I can control her? Why just erase her memories when I can replace them with ones I've created? Anna hasn't been wiped, she's been reprogrammed through memory modifications. And unlike wiping her, this is irreversible." Technically, Rumlow didn't know for sure if that last part was true, but it was worth bluffing for the look that fell across the Soldier's face.

James hands clenched into fists at Rumlow's words before his right hand reached for the knife at his side. He was going to take his time hurting Rumlow, cutting him as deep as he had cut James. That plan was derailed before James could take another step closer as, with a push of a button, Rumlow had agents filing in from a hidden door on the opposite wall. Before long he was cornered, with a dozen guns trained on him. Perhaps Rumlow had a right to be cocky, with that much man power at his beck and call. It had James scanning the room for a way to take the agents down without going down himself. In such a tight space, it wasn't looking too promising.

…

Anna hadn't run faster than she did when she left the blonde behind in her room. By the looks of him, he was used to running, more so than Anna. Even in his suit he could probably run laps around her. Which meant even with her head start she had to be fast. And if she wanted to make it to Brock's room, she had to fight past the tight feeling in her chest that threatened a full blown asthma attack if she didn't get her breathing under control.

When she saw the doors to Brock's room just feet before her, Anna sped up, determined to get to safety. What she hadn't been suspecting was the battalion of armed agents when she got there. It took Anna a second to realize their guns weren't trained on her, but on the Winter Soldier who stood a mere foot away from her. For reasons unknown to Anna, the sight of so many guns trained on the Soldier had her heart racing in fear.

Seemingly of their own accord, her feet moved her until she was standing in front of the Soldier in an attempt to protect him from the agents should they open fire. Though it wasn't logical for her to be defending the man who had murdered her parents, something inside Anna was telling her that she was right where she needed to be; that if she let the agents kill the soldier, a part of her would die with him. Again, it was illogical, but Anna felt it was the truth.

James was admittedly shocked when Anya stepped in front of him in an attempt to protect him. Firstly because she was supposed to be safe, with Steve, away from Hydra. Secondly, because she was defending him. When he had left her she had been terrified of him. That Anya wouldn't protect him, she'd want protected from him. Which led James to believe that his Anya was still in there, fighting whatever Rumlow had done to her. That thought had hope rising within him. Rumlow, on the other hand, was not pleased at all. Anna was supposed to be afraid of the Asset. Protecting him was taking about twenty steps back from where she had been just five minutes ago.

Something had to be done, and the only thing Rumlow could think of that would rectify the situation was recalibration. With a push of a button he had Anna on her knees, gripping her head in pain as the device sent new waves of information to her brain. James watched in horror as Anya fell to the floor in pain, kneeling beside her with his hands hovering over her, not knowing what to do. He didn't understand what was causing her pain, until he remembered what Rumlow had told him about recalibrating Anna's mind. Was this what he meant by that?

Glancing up at Rumlow with a glare, James' attention was drawn to the small device in his hand when Rumlow removed his thumb from a button on it. It validated James' suspicion that Rumlow was the cause of Anya's pain, not that it made him feel any better. Rumlow held the key to unwinding Anya's memories, and James couldn't get to it without leaving Anya alone and in pain on the floor. So he stayed where he was, and when Anya passed out from the pain, he gently lifted her body from the floor.

The agents watched on in annoyance and impatience, tired of holding fire. However, they knew the consequences should they shoot and hit the doctor. Their orders had been clear: don't hurt the doctor under any circumstance and kill the Asset the first opportunity they had. Those orders were currently contradicting one another as the Asset had the doctor in his arms. He was within range of attack, but attacking would mean risking harming the doctor. So they just stood there, guns at the ready, waiting for an open shot that wouldn't hurt the doctor. When Captain America came bursting through the door, most of them were regretting not taking a shot at the Asset. Now they had two super soldiers to contend with. One of which was royally pissed off.

"What happened to getting Anya to safety?" James asked as Steve came to stand beside him, shield up in case the agents fired.

"I wasn't expecting her to make a run for it. She okay?" Steve responded, noticing Anna was lying unconscious in Bucky's arms.

"She will be. As soon as we can get her out of this." It was at the end of that sentence that one of the agents grew too impatient and fired a shot at James' head. Without hesitation, Steve moved his shield to block the shot, angling the shield so the bullet ricocheted off and hit one of the other agents in the neck. That's when all hell broke loose.

Bullets rained down on them as the agents fired back in retaliation. Twisting so his back was to the agents, James brought Anya's body up against his chest as he used his body to shield her from the bullets. He was putting a lot of faith in Tony's word that his suit was bulletproof as he ducked his head down. It wasn't until he heard Rumlow yelling orders not to hit Anya that James felt secure enough to set Anya on the floor and turn around to return fire.

James focused on covering Steve as he moved to engage the agents with his shield. Seeing as he didn't have his suit on, the more fire James could divert from Steve, the less chance he had of getting shot. It was slow going, eliminating the agents surrounding them, but eventually they managed it. With the slew of agents lying dead around them on the floor, James moved back to Anna, lifting her from the floor before handing her over to Steve. Once again he ordered him to get her to safety before pulling his other knife from his pocket and crossing the room slowly to the defenseless Rumlow.

Normally Steve would provide the voice of reason around that time. However, he knew it would be pointless. With everything Rumlow had done to Bucky and to Anna, there would be no persuading Bucky to take a different road, to just leave it. Steve couldn't blame him either. He had a feeling if the team let Rumlow go, he'd just come right back for Anna. In order for this all to end, Rumlow needed to be taken care of. So Steve carried Anna out of the room without a word, leaving James to do what he felt necessary.

James was satisfied to see the arrogant confidence had faded from Rumlow's eyes, replaced by fear. As he got closer, Rumlow began trying to talk him down, but he was wasting his breath. Nothing he said would make James reconsider what he was going to do. The first thing James did when he reached Rumlow's bedside was to rip the IV lines out of his arm. The last thing James wanted was for the pain to be blunted by IV pain meds. Running his knife down the length of Rumlow's arm, leaving a trail of red several shades darker than his burnt skin, James paused when he reached Rumlow's hand. He was still gripping the controller that had caused Anya pain and it sent a fresh wave of rage flowing through James. Switching the knife to his left hand, James slammed the blade straight through Rumlow's right hand, causing him to drop the remote with a cry of pain.

Reaching for the remote, which was now broken from the knife piercing it as well, James pocketed it before pulling out another knife. He figured it would hurt more if he left the knife in Rumlow's hand a little while, until he got accustomed to it being there. It would make removing it hurt all the more. It was as he was dragging the knife up the length of Rumlow's other arm, letting the blade sink deeper and planning on ending that slice with a stab to the eye, that there was a clinking sound behind him. James knew that sound all too well, he had several on his person then. It was a bomb. Before he had time to react, smoke filled the room and had James retracting his knife from Rumlow, readying for an attack. It wasn't the kind of bomb he was expecting, but it still didn't mean he could let his guard down. The smoke was meant to hide the attacker. At least that's what James had anticipated. He found out what the real purpose of the smoke bomb was when the smoke cleared and Rumlow was gone.

…

"What the Hell happened in there?" Rollins demanded to know once he'd set Rumlow down on the bed in one of the nearby holding areas. Twelve of their men lied dead on the floor when Rollins finally made it to Rumlow's room. With no backup Rollins had had to resort to a smoke bomb in order to get Rumlow away from the Winter Soldier. What Rollins didn't understand was how the Soldier was still alive when all twelve of the agents had been armed.

"Anna interrupted, and I ordered them not to shoot with the possibility of her being caught in the crossfire. Then Cap came and all Hell broke loose." Rumlow explained, wincing in pain as he pulled out the knife from his hand.

Once again, Rumlow's fascination with the Stark girl had bitten Hydra in the butt. Not only did Rumlow not give the order to shoot because of the girl, but that order had cost them twelve good agents and had almost cost Rumlow his life. This obsession Rumlow had was too much. It was time Rollins actually did something about it.

"This is the last time Stark costs Hydra men. It is obvious your main goal is to get Stark all to yourself. I was fine with looking the other way when Stark was beneficial to Hydra, but she is no longer an asset. As such, your goals no longer align with Hydras. I will provide transportation for you to a hospital, but you are own your own from there. Don't expect Hydra to save or help you anymore." Rollins retorted before leaving the room to make the arrangements.

Rumlow had been a good agent, and a decent friend, but with Hydra you always had to think of the greater good. Rumlow was no longer loyal to Hydra, and so he needed to go. Normally that would involve killing him to ensure he didn't spill Hydra secrets, but Rollins didn't think Rumlow was much of a threat. Physically he was still healing from his burns, and now the injuries the Soldier had provided, while mentally he wasn't completely sound. Not with his obsession with the doctor. Rumlow was no threat to Hydra. Only to himself and to Stark.

* * *

 _A/N here it is! Chapter five, the reunion of Janya…in a way. Hope you enjoyed it! Oh and Emily from the last chapter is the same Emily who will be the OC in the Steve story. Congrats to those who remembered/picked up on that. Next chapter to be posted next Sunday!_

 _Guest Review Responses!_

 _To the guest who said they were freaking out I hope this update sufficed :)_


	6. Chapter 6

_"You won't ever be alone. Just wait for me to come." Photograph Cover Tyler Ward and Anna Clendening_

* * *

"You look pissy for someone who just got his girl back," Tony commented when James finally met up with the team in the designated clearing. Albeit the retort lost some of its sarcasm when he stumbled over the 'his girl' part. It was hard for Tony to force that part out.

"Rumlow got away." James grunted in explanation, his face only softening when he saw Anya in Tony's arms. His expression quickly crumbled into worry as he brushed a strand of her hair out of her face. Rumlow had taken over her mind, and every time her mind fought against it she was in pain. James wasn't sure what could be done about it, just that they had to fix it somehow.

"We can worry about Rumlow later, you'll find him and reduce him to just a skull and crossbones. I'm more worried about Anna Banana right now. Capsicle said he's clueless as to why she's unconscious." Tony insisted, glancing down at Anna as if hoping talking about her would make her regain consciousness.

"Rumlow did that, with this." James muttered as he pulled the broken remote out of his pocket and handed it over. "He used it to not just wipe her memories, but replace them." Of all the horrible things he'd imagine Hydra doing to Anya, nothing compared to what they had actually done. Wiping was bad in itself, but reconstructing her mind to alter her memories went above and beyond sadistic.

"Replace them with what?" Tony questioned gruffly, taking the remote from Tin Man. It was broken, probably by Tin Man, but hopefully it was intact enough for him to be able to dissect it in his lab and figure out what exactly it did, and how it worked. If Rumlow had truly changed Anna Banana's memories with it, perhaps he could use it to undo the damage done.

"Lies," James spat out the answer to Tony's question, wincing at the memory of the look of terror on Anya's face when he had found her. What made it worse, was it was always the reaction he had expected from her ever since she'd come tumbling into his world. The fact that she never had, kept him reaching to be the man she believed he could be. Rumlow manipulating her mind, stealing one of the few people that believed he was good from him, brought emotional pain James hadn't even known was possible.

"That's why she ran. She wasn't running after you, but away from me," Steve murmured, Anna's reaction to them finding her finally making sense. At first he had assumed she had chased after Bucky to prevent him from getting himself killed. "Does she remember any of us?"

"I'm her brother, of course she remembers me. He can't erase 25 years of memories in a couple weeks." Tony insisted, tightening his grip on Anna as he pulled her closer to him. He didn't like the idea of anyone messing with his baby sister's mind.

"It's not her remembering you that you should be worried about," Natasha's voice broke through the quiet that had settled as she approached the group, followed by Clint and Bruce. They had only just made it to the designated meet up spot. "It's what those memories consist of. It doesn't matter if someone remembers you, it's how they remember you."

"At least we have the remote. Rumlow can't do any further damage at the moment." Steve offered up when a somber silence followed Natasha's enlightenment. However, his statement didn't seem to relieve the pained expressions clouding both Tony's and Bucky's faces. Both were too caught up in their own heads, worrying about the one person they both cared about.

Neither of them spoke a word on the way back to Stark tower. Nowadays that was the norm for Bucky, but it most certainly wasn't normal for Tony. No one had the guts to comment on it, even though they all took notice. Tony was the only part of the group that would have had a sarcastic comment in a situation like that, but seeing as it was Anna who had been damaged, sarcasm wasn't dripping from him as per usual.

Anna never left Tony's arms from the moment Steve had given her to him at the Hydra compound. Even when it meant someone else would have to drive them. Not only was it the first time Steve had seen Tony surrender control of one of his cars willingly, it was also the first time Steve saw Bucky and Tony sit within 5 feet of each other voluntarily. Bucky attempted to follow beside Tony when they reached Stark Tower, but Steve pulled him to the side and asked him if he could speak with him in private. He had read the file on Bucky that was in Anna's cell on their drive back, and there were definitely some things in there that needed to be discussed before Bucky spoke with Anna again.

Reluctantly, James followed Steve to the room Anya and him and been pseudo-sharing before the lake house and before everything fell apart. When Steve told him he might want to sit down, James ignored the suggestion. He couldn't be expected to sit still when his whole body was screaming at him to run and find wherever Tony had taken Anya. When Steve figured this out, he simply handed James a manila file folder. James took it hesitantly, confused as to why Steve chose this moment to hand him what looked like paperwork.

"I found that on the bed in Anna's cell," Steve clarified as James read the name on the file folder. His name. It was his file. Opening it slowly, he flipped through the chronicles of the damage he had done until he came across Anna's surname. There weren't too many details written on paper, but it was enough to grasp what it was saying. He had killed Anya's parents.

"No wonder she hates me," James muttered as he stuffed the paper back into the folder. If she had been reading that before he came for her, he couldn't blame her for looking at him as though he were a monster. Even if her memories hadn't been altered he would expect that reaction after discovering something like that.

"We don't know if it's true. It could have been doctored by Rumlow. I have a file Natasha gave me when I started looking for you. I think we should compare the two," Steve insisted, trying to reassure Bucky. Even though there was a distinct possibility that Bucky had murdered Anna's and Tony's parents, there was also a chance that it was fabricated by Rumlow to further disintegrate Anna's memories of Bucky.

"It doesn't matter. I killed innocent people, and Anya's finally reacting to it like I had expected her to," James forced out, tossing the file on the bed before moving past Steve to the door. He wasn't sure exactly where he was going, but he just needed to get away from the four walls that seemed to be closing in on him. At that moment, he couldn't remember whether he killed Anya's parents or not, but as he told Steve it didn't matter. He was positive not all of the files in that folder were fabricated, and they were enough to have Anya seeing him as a ruthless murderer. Because that was what he was, or at least had been: an assassin. He'd ripped family's apart long before Anya's.

…

Once again Anna woke up in different surroundings than when she'd passed out, with no memory of how she had gotten there. The last thing she remembered was running for safety, running from the man with the metal arm, from the Winter Soldier. Blinking the drowsiness from her eyes, Anna glanced around in hopes of glimpsing some clue as to where she was. When she was met with the familiar furniture of her room from home, a room she hadn't occupied for years, it had her scrunching her forehead in confusion.

Everything was exactly how it had been in her bedroom, down to the red nail polish stain on the carpet by the bathroom door. But she couldn't really be in her room. The building in New York had been bought by the bank when Tony never returned from Iraq. Whoever had taken her was simply playing on her memories to try and force her into a calm state. It only backfired as it had her nerves on edge.

Rising from the bed slowly, Anna made her way to the door, trying the handle only to find it locked. It shouldn't have surprised her, but a part of her had hoped that perhaps she was back home, in an alternate reality where Tony was still alive. Even with knowing the impossibility of it. She had written the eulogy, had thrown dirt on his casket. Tony wasn't going to come home.

"Let me out!" Anna started screaming at the top of her lungs, pounding against the heavy wood door. She wanted out of the time capsule of memories. It hurt too much to be reminded of the family she had lost. Whoever she was dealing with was a psychotic and sadistic person.

Anna wasn't expecting her cries to be answered. So when the knob began jiggling from the other side she took a step back in surprise. The door never opened, though the person on the other end did start calling out to her. Anna remembered enough to know it was the Winter Soldier. No one else had referred to her as Anya, and Anna was still confused as to why the Soldier did. However, her fear that he might be able to enter the room took over her senses as she backed all the way across the room until her legs hit the edge of the bed.

"Damn it Jarvis, open the door!" The man grumbled from the other side of the door, only confusing Anna all the more. Jarvis had been the name of Tony's artificial intelligence butler.

"I'm sorry Tin Man, unless you have the authorization code, the door remains locked." A voice from Anna's past spoke. It was definitely Jarvis, meaning whoever took her had access to Tony's technology. Was it somebody from Stark Industries who wanted to ensure she worked with them on the project that Hydra had put her on? If so why had they recruited the Winter Soldier, a Hydra assassin, to help retrieve her? It just wasn't making any sense.

The rattling of the handle startled Anna out of her theories and had her holding her breath and waiting for the Soldier to break down the door. Instead, she heard him stomping away, most likely to get the access code that he hadn't been aware he needed. Anna sincerely hoped whoever did have it wouldn't give it to him. She feared what he would do to her.

"Jarvis," Anna called out hesitantly, not really expecting the computer system to answer her. When he did, she felt hope rising within her. If it truly was the same AI that Tony had created, perhaps he would listen to her, a Stark.

"Yes Anna Banana?" Hearing that nickname again stung. Tony was the only one who called her that, and only the real Jarvis, the one Tony created, would know that.

"Where am I?" Anna pressed after composing herself. Knowing that Jarvis was there, as much as an AI could be, was somewhat reassuring. It was almost like having a piece of Tony with her. Anna tried to push away that sentiment, as she knew whoever was using Jarvis now was not Tony. Meaning Jarvis might no longer have her best interests programmed into him.

"In Stark Tower." Anna knew that was a lie, that it couldn't be the truth. Because there was no Stark Tower anymore. The bank had repossessed it when Anna decided to sign it over to them. Having a skyscraper full of empty rooms, half of which weren't finished yet, had never appealed to her. Doing things big was always Tony's thing.

"Can you unlock the door for me?" After hearing him deny the Soldier entrance, Anna doubted if he would oblige her request, but it was worth a try.

"Unfortunately no. It's for your own good." As expected, Jarvis had denied her request. That didn't particularly come as a surprise. What did surprise Anna was the answer he had given her. Not that she needed a code, but that she was there for her own wellbeing. Obviously that's what whoever had locked her up had told him to say, and that thought creeped her out. Not only was the person who was holding her captive sadistic and psychotic, but he was also delusional if he thought this was for her own good.

…

"This isn't looking good Tony," Bruce commented, studying the x-ray images they'd taken of Anna's neck while she had still been unconscious. The device wasn't just in her dermis anymore, it had somehow attached itself to the nerves in her neck. Which was most likely how it managed to disrupt her memories, by tapping into the nerves leading to temporal lobe.

"This thing is fried. I don't think there's a way of getting anything important out of it." Tony grumbled as he studied the remote Tin Man had given him. Perhaps if Tin Man hadn't stabbed it, Tony might have been able to re-circuit the thing so that it undid what it had done. However, in the condition it was in, it was practically useless.

"We're going to have to remove the damn thing," Tony concluded, chucking the remote across the table into his junk pile. Swiveling his chair over to where Bruce was studying the x-ray, Tony tilted his head to the side, trying to understand exactly how the device had lodged itself into his sister's nervous system.

"That's what I was trying to say, Tony. It's in there fairly deep. I'm not sure we can remove it. Doing so could result in permanent amnesia, paralysis, or even death." Minds were resilient, but there was only so much they could take. It'd take a skilled surgeon to remove the device, and even with one there was no guarantee that removing it would work.

"So you want me to do nothing? I have to fix this!" Tony exploded, his desperation shining through. They were talking about his baby sister. It was his job to keep her safe. He had gotten her into this mess, it was up to him to get her out of it. That's how things had always been their whole life. If something went wrong in Anna Banana's life, Tony would come behind her and fix it for her. Even if she wasn't always aware that he had.

Before Bruce could attempt to calm Tony down with logic, James was bursting through the lab doors, seeming highly agitated. Of course, it wasn't hard to guess who had gotten underneath his skin. Tony and James had never seen eye to eye. More often than not Tony had James on edge. Which was why it didn't surprise Bruce when James made a beeline towards Tony.

"You're keeping her locked up too?" James spat out as he stopped before the two scientists, his fists clenching as he recalled the sound of Anya pleading for someone to let her out. She was being held prisoner in her own home.

"It's for her own good. She'd hurt herself or leave otherwise," Tony snapped back, not appreciating the interruption nor the insinuation that he was treating his sister as a prisoner. She had a plush bed, access to a bathroom, and would be provided meals and food regularly. Just because he'd put a lock on her door didn't mean she was a prisoner. Prisoners didn't get accommodations like that.

"You're just freaking her out more and justifying her seeing us as the bad guys." Anya already had enough reasons to hate James, he didn't need fuel added to that fire. "How are we any different than Hydra by keeping her locked up and saying it's for her own good?" That's the excuse Hydra had always given him. That keeping him secluded, and locked in his room was for his own good. It didn't exactly promote warm feelings towards the organization.

"I'd rather her freak out safely in her room, than escape and be kidnapped by Hydra. Again." Tony retorted, trying not to let Tin Man's words get to him. "We need her safe until we decide what to do."

"What's to decide? We need to remove it." There was no decision that needed to be made. Removing it was the only solution to both Anya's memory problems as well as her pain. They needed to get that thing out of her as soon as possible.

"It's not that simple. She might not survive surgery." Bruce cut in, deciding that it'd be better if he played mediator. It might help prevent the two from taking their verbal argument and turning it into a physical one. "The best option might be to keep it in there and try and help her remember."

"That thing is causing her _pain_." James forced out, tired of the scientists acting as though they knew everything. They might have a higher IQ than him, but they didn't have as much life experience with this kind of thing. "Pain so intense that it makes her black out. She can't live that way" James could live with her hating him, but he couldn't live with seeing Anya in that much pain. He knew what experiencing that kind of pain felt like.

Out of everything he had said, that seemed to finally get through to the scientists. Tony wasn't going to allow his sister to be in pain, and the fact that she was experiencing even the tiniest prick of pain had Tony changing his mind about everything.

"Tony where are you going?" Bruce asked as he watched his friend stalk away without a word, pulling out his Bluetooth ear piece as he went.

"To collect on a favor," Tony retorted before asking Jarvis to call Dr. Carlson. If Anna had to have surgery, she was going to get the best neurosurgeon money could provide. And Dr. Carlson was the best. Though it would normally take months of sitting on a waiting list to get an appointment, let alone a home visit, Dr. Carlson owed him. Tony knew funding the guy's research had been a smart idea.

* * *

 _A/N Okay so first let me say I only did a quick read through for errors so I apologize for any you find. Now, Anna is finally home. I'm excited for chapters to come. The next one in particular has interactions between Anna and some of the others. Plus I'm considering trying to work Thor in here somewhere. It's hard, but I'm trying. Let me know what you think!_

 _Guest Review Responses_

 _To the guest who said Poor Bucky :(: I feel ya. And I'm happy I wrote it well enough that you felt bad for him!_

 _To the guest who mentioned how the last two chapters have been sooo good: Thank you! No, James didn't get to finish his revenge, but he will get the chance again. I'm glad you liked Steve and Emily's first meeting, It makes me happy that you're excited for their story as well. I'm hoping that everyone thinks James and Anna's ending is happy and epic. What did you have in mind when you say epic?_

 _To the guest who said Rumlow is an interesting character and that they'd really like a story about him and another oc: I've had another reader comment they'd like a Rumlow/OC fic. I'll probably end up doing one after the rest of my marvel fics I have planned. Let me know if you have any other suggestions for stories. I know I also have an idea for a Mad Hatter/Jefferon and OC story for Once Upon a Time._

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	7. Chapter 7

" _She wants to go home, but nobody's home. That's where she lies, broken inside." Avril Lavigne_

* * *

Anna fell asleep clutching a picture frame of Tony and her. It had been sitting on the dresser and she couldn't help but study it in confusion until she drifted off to sleep. Anna couldn't remember that particular picture, which was odd because she'd memorized just about every picture of her and her family. When you don't have family, you learn to live through the memories of the days you did have one. The picture in question was taken in front of the Washington monument, but Anna had never been to DC with Tony. He'd already been declared dead by the time she went to Georgetown for med school. And so it confounded her how that picture had come to be.

Tony found Anna clutching the photo when he went to see her early the next morning. He'd spent the better half of the night convincing Dr. Carlson to fly into New York immediately. The conversation ended with another promised donation on Tony's part, and with the doctor on a flight due to arrive early the next morning. After his success, Tony figured it was about time he check on his sister, partly to prove that Tin Man was wrong and he wasn't keeping her prisoner like Hydra. It also had a little to do with the fact that she hadn't been conscious when they'd arrived home, and he was eager to get a chance to talk with her and figure out exactly how deep Rumlow had penetrated her mind. He couldn't help but smile seeing her with the picture. It was from his trip down to DC, after Anna had up and moved down there to go to med school without telling him. He had intended to bring her back with him, but she'd won him over. As she always did when she set her mind to something.

Anna stirred awake when she felt the picture being tugged out of her grasp. Blinking away her blurred vision of sleepiness, she focused on the man who had taken the picture from her. When she found familiar brown eyes staring back at her, a shade off from her own, she immediately backed herself of against her headboard. She had to still be dreaming. Or they had given her some seriously messed up drugs. Because the man before her couldn't really be there.

"Good morning, Anna Banana," the man spoke, confirming Anna's fear. She knew that voice, and she knew it had to be a trick. Still, she could feel her heart breaking all over again as she realized just how much she wished it truly was him.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Anna wasn't stupid nor naïve. No matter how much the man before her look, sounded, or acted like Tony, it wasn't him. It was a trick, an illusion, or a hallucination. A hallucination that was trying to convince her that he was her brother. But Anna couldn't take that, mentally or emotionally. It was as if whoever had taken her was preying on her emotions, knowing exactly where to hit her the hardest.

"No! You're dead, you're not real," Anna cried out, gripping her head as tears streamed down her face. "You left me. And you're never coming back." That's what the general had told her months after Tony had left for Iraq. He'd offered his condolences and handed her a folded up flag. As though Tony had been a soldier who had been killed in action.

But Tony hadn't signed his life away to the army. It was just another business trip. Tony had promised he'd be home in a matter of days. Anna knew better than to think he'd keep his promise, he was always gone longer than he intended. However, she had expected him home within a week or two at the most. She couldn't have anticipated him never coming home at all. The harsh memory of that reality was what convinced Anna the person before her was a simple hologram, or a sick demonstration of plastic surgery. It wasn't her brother. It couldn't be. And if it was, that meant he'd abandoned her for years and had made her believe he was dead. That was worse than him actually being dead. Choosing to abandon her would be so much worse.

"I'm not dead, Anna, look at me," the Tony look alike insisted, taking a step closer to her. Instead of reassuring her, it had Anna's breaths becoming rapid and shallow, as her hands moved to her chest. She knew freaking out would only worsen her asthma symptoms, but as soon as the tightness in her lungs started, she couldn't help it. Especially not when she had no means of stopping it. She couldn't calm herself down and she had no inhaler on her.

The man posing as her brother, whether he be real or a figment of her mind, moved to the table beside the bed, pulling open the drawer before pressing something into her hands. By the time she realized it was an inhaler, the man was gone, slamming the door behind him. He was angry, but whether it was due to her not buying the brother act or for her having an asthma attack, Anna didn't know. And at the moment she couldn't bring herself to care as she inhaled the medication that helped her breath again.

…

Steve was at a loss for what to do. After reading the full file on Bucky that Natasha had provided him, only to find out that Bucky truly had been behind the death of Howard and Maria Stark, Steve wasn't at all keen on pointing it out to Bucky. He already blamed himself for so much, not to mention saw himself as a monster, Steve didn't want to spur it on. Without Anna there to reassure him differently, Steve wasn't sure Bucky could take the revelation. What Steve didn't know was that James was aware of the truth without reading the real file.

The flashbacks had come in pieces after reading the file found in Anya's cell at Hydra. How he had tracked the car down and disabled the breaks. How he was driving the car that forced them to swerve on the bridge and crass into a support beam at top speed when they couldn't stop. How he'd made it look like an accident, exactly as he'd been told. He had killed Anya's parents, and there was no way he could ask, or expect her forgiveness for that. He kept to himself after the flashbacks, not knowing how to face the others knowing the truth.

"He won't talk to me," Steve muttered dejectedly to Sam. Natasha had gotten tired of hearing him debate what to do with the Winter Soldier and had left. Now it was just Sam and Steve on the balcony, with Sam trying to understand why finding out James had killed the Starks changed anything.

"He was a soldier, fighting Hydra's wars. As a soldier, you follow orders from your commanding officer. You kill people. Is it horrible that he killed Anna's parents, yes. Is it his fault their dead, no. Hydra would have simply punished him for not obeying their orders and sent someone else to do it, if he hadn't," Sam replied, not saying anything that Steve hadn't thought of. The problem was getting Bucky to understand that, when he wouldn't stay in the same room as anyone for more than a few seconds.

"It's hard to get Bucky to see things that way when he won't talk to me, let alone let me talk to him." Steve grumbled, rubbing his forehead. Bucky had come so far since the first time they'd reunited. Steve hated that all that progress could just be thrown out the window from one revelation. Although, in truth, it wasn't just the revelation that he'd killed Anya's parents. It was more the fact that Anya didn't remember him, and that any memories she had of him were tinged with fear.

"You've got to give him time, man. Whenever you kill someone in war, it takes time to get over what you've done. He never got time to come to terms with what he'd done. He needs that time now." Talking about it came after you came to terms with it. Once James was able to do the first, he'd be open to talking about it with others who have been through similar experiences.

"Maybe I should send Natasha or Clint to talk with him. They're always talking about the red in their ledger. Perhaps a 'one on one' with another assassin could get him out of this funk." Sam simply shook his head at Steve. The man was not being a good listener at the moment. Sam knew Steve just wanted to make everything better for James, but he couldn't. These kind of wounds needed heeled individually, not collectively. The last thing James needed then was to play 'tell me yours and I'll tell you mine' with Clint and Natasha. Regaling war stories fondly only truly happened in movies, or decades after said stories took place. Though it had been decades since James had killed Anna's parents, he was just now remembering it now. Thanks to Hydra, he never got time to ponder over those he killed and get over it.

"Or, you could wait until he comes to you to talk." Sam suggested, knowing it would only be a matter of time before James came to Steve anyways. Out of everyone in the tower, minus Anna, James was closest to Steve. Meaning when he wanted to talk, he'd turn to Steve. After a minute Steve eventually nodded his head in agreement. He knew trying to force Bucky to talk with someone would most likely backfire on him. Steve had been basing how to handle the situation off of the old Bucky. He needed to start thinking about how the new Bucky would react to things, which was a little harder for him seeing as he hadn't spent twenty-something years getting to know the newer Bucky.

…

"I swear, if I ever see that bastard again he's going to pay for what he's done," Tony ranted to Bruce while he helped sterilize the part of the lab where the surgery would take place.

"Anna remembers you," Bruce pointed out a positive, seeing as Rumlow could have erased all memories of Tony.

"She thinks I'm dead. That I died over in Iraq, even though I'm quite clearly physically alive and well." That was much worse than not remembering him. Much worse than hating him. He'd dealt with Anna not approving of his actions before, and they'd moved past it. How could they be expected to move past him rising from the dead?

"Minds are tricky, Stark. Push them too hard and they'll start rebelling and reverting back." Natasha cut into the conversation, causing both scientists to whip their heads in her direction. Neither had heard her approaching.

"I don't think Anna's going to wake up and all of a sudden remember I'm not actually dead," Tony muttered, wiping the table with a little extra muscle. He didn't like it when his rants were interrupted. Only Bruce and Anna Banana could get away with it. "And this is a restricted area. Only club members allowed, and last I checked you didn't have a member card."

"Don't be a baby about it Tony, I was bored." Natasha was beginning to think she preferred Steve's ranting to Tony's. At least Steve wasn't rude. "And I'm offering up personal experience with memory loss, just take it gratefully. It all comes in pieces, sometimes not even in order. But it does start coming back." Of course, Natasha's memories of her past hadn't quite resurfaced yet, but more did every day. And she wasn't about to tell Tony that, because he wasn't known for his patience and he wouldn't want to wait years for Anna to remember him.

"They're all going to come back when Dr. Carlson removes the device." Tony wasn't sure if that was a hundred percent truth, but it was what kept him moving forward: believing that he could get Anna back. She was the only family he had left, and he'd be damned if he let Hydra take her as well.

"She'll still remember what happened to her, what Rumlow forced her to think was the truth. Some which might actually be the truth." Natasha responded, pausing for a moment as she debated whether to tell Tony what Steve and she had discovered about his parents' and the Winter Soldier. She had been filled in on the details of how the Winter Soldier had come to be on their side, but was still a little fuzzy on the specific details. She didn't know if they could really trust him, especially after what Steve and she had discovered in his file. She knew it might not be the best time to shed light on it, seeing as Tony was already worked up over Anna. However, she knew he deserved to know. If anyone had information on her past, she'd want them to tell her. "Like finding out that the Winter Soldier was the one who killed your parents."

"I know," Tony murmured, continuing to wipe off what would be the operation table. His response caused both Bruce and Natasha to stare at him in astonishment.

"You, know?" Natasha asked in confusion, watching as Tony threw down the rag he was using and moved to the closest monitor. With several taps he had the screen covered in news articles and Hydra information, his research with red circles and lines connecting the information together. He'd gone digging shortly after Tin Man came to stay in the tower, looking for something to push Anna against him. When he finally made the conclusion, he'd changed his stance on the issue at hand. "Why didn't you tell Anna?"

"I'm not blind, and I know my sister." Tony murmured, canceling out of the files as he spoke. "Not only is she stubborn, and chooses to see the good even through the bad, she's also in love with him. With everything she's been through, she deserves to be happy. And besides, other than killing our parents, they guy is not half bad. He saved her life countless of times. And who am I to judge. I've killed a few families myself when the company sold weapons to terrorists. Not to mention the whole hellicarier fiasco that would have put me behind the mass murder of many, including you and Capsicle."

Tony had been all set to tell Anna, to break through whatever delusions she had that the Tin Man was a good man. But then she got shot, and he had protected her. He insisted that Tony take her, save her. The Tin Man had only cared about Anna Banana's safety. That's what started to change his mind about telling Anna. What was the point of dredging up the past when she was happy, when that pain had healed for her, and when Tin Man was no threat to her?

"I have to side with Natasha on this one, I'm shocked you're not more upset about this," Bruce commented, studying Tony for any signs of anger. Bruce had no idea Tony had conducted research on James, nor what that research had concluded. He expected Tony to be livid if he found out that James had murdered his parents, but he'd never acted uncharacteristically temperamental in the lab that Bruce could recall.

"I've been doing yoga in my spare time. Besides, Dad helped Capsicle and Tin Man back in the day, spent most of his life looking for Capsicle, I'm sure he wouldn't want his death to be at anyone else's hands but Tin Mans's." The fact that Hydra had to send in their top gun would have actually made Howard Stark over the moon happy simply because it took a grade A assassin to take him down and make it look like an accident. That's not to say Tony wasn't furious when he found out that he was housing the man who had murdered his parents.

However, there was always a good side to the bad, and perhaps it was Anna Banana's influence on him, but he couldn't help but see the good side staring him in the face: that he finally knew what really happened the night their parents died. Not to say that he wasn't still ticked off at Tin Man, hence him constantly going against his ideas and plans. But the truth of it all was, Hydra had ordered his parents killed, not Tin Man. His sister loved the guy, despite the obvious flaws. Why punish a man for crimes he may have committed when he had no idea of what was right or wrong. Tony was never punished for the crimes the terrorists had committed with the weapons his company made and sold to them, unknowingly by him.

"Sometimes Tony, you astound me," Bruce murmured, returning to his cleaning and making a mental note to bring this up again in their next 'session.'

"Aw, only sometimes Big Guy? I was aiming for at least 89% of the time." Tony countered with a smile as he sprayed Bruce with the aseptic cleaner before continuing his cleansing of the table. Natasha simply rolled her eyes at the two and went to find Clint. He was bound to have the access codes to the armory in the gym, which was the whole reason she had come to the lab in the first place: to get the codes from Tony or threaten him with breaking the armament so she could get to them.

…

Steve wouldn't stop trying to talk things out with James about Anya's parents. Every time he so much as stepped foot out of his room, Steve seemed to be there trying to talk with him. That's why it took several days before James had acquired several guns and knives from the armament without Steve noticing. He couldn't leave without the basic weapons needed to defend himself should Hydra come after him. Once he had acquired them, he waited until night, when it would be easier to slip out unnoticed, until he left the room. Dressed in clothes that Anya had gotten him, with his pockets full of the weapons he had taken, James made his way to the stairwell. It wasn't until he was a couple flights down that he ran into Steve, who just happened to be standing in the middle of the stairwell at his floor.

"You're leaving," Steve commented, giving Bucky a knowing look. He had suspected Bucky was preparing to make a run for it when Natasha reported weapons missing from the armament the past few days. "I'm coming with you."

Steve volunteering to come with James actually took him by surprise. James hadn't expected him to leave the others so easily. Though it was clear that Steve was serious seeing as he had a duffle in one hand and his shield on his back. He was truly prepared to run with James and leave everyone and everything else behind.

"I need you here, with Anya. She deserves someone like you." James insisted, partly because it was true, and partly because he wanted to go on his own. Being alone was the easiest way to make sure he didn't hurt anyone he cared about.

"And yet she wants you," Steve pointed out, crossing his arms as he stared down his best friend. Bucky needed to understand that he wasn't bad. He'd done some bad things, but that didn't mean that's who he was now.

"Not anymore," James murmured, avoiding eye contact with Steve. Things had changed ever since Rumlow had activated the device he'd had inserted into Anya's neck. Anya couldn't' remember him, she didn't know what she wanted. That was the beauty of all this. She could start fresh, start wanting someone that was good for her. At least, that was the conclusion he had come to over the past several days.

Steve was about to argue, but the set of Bucky's shoulders let him know that no matter what he said, Bucky wouldn't listen to him. He was too stubborn. That part of him hadn't changed over the years. Bucky wasn't going to let Steve come with him, and he wasn't going to stay. At least, he wasn't going to stay for any reasons Steve was going to provide. It was something Steve had been prepared for.

"You should at least say goodbye" Steve responded, reaching in his pocket and pulling out a piece of paper. He slipped it into Bucky's hand before heading towards the stairwell door. "She deserves that much," Steve added before letting the door click shut behind him, leaving Bucky to make his own decision on what to do. He really hoped he still knew him well enough, and that Bucky would do as Steve suggested.

James stood there for a minute, contemplating crumpling the paper into a small ball and continuing down the stairwell. But he couldn't do that. Not with Steve's words echoing in his head 'you owe her that much.' Instead, James retraced his steps back up to the hall he had started from. He must have stood in front of her door for ten minutes, too nervous to actually use the code Steve had given him. Eventually, he took a steadying breath before calling out to Jarvis and giving him the code. Hearing the click of the lock, James pulled down on the handle and watched as it swung open.

He was expecting her to be asleep, but she wasn't. She was sitting up in the bed, with the lamp on beside her, staring at a photograph. At least she had been before he opened her door. Now she was staring at him in shock, tears staining her face and a deep set confusion in her eyes. Shutting the door behind him, James was unsure what to say as he watched her eyes switch from confusion to fear. Maybe this was a bad idea.

"I won't hurt you Anya," James murmured reassuringly, raising his hands to show her he meant her no harm. "I would never hurt you." At the sound of her name, she tilted her head to the side slightly, causing James to believe she remembered it, even if just a little.

"I know you're in there. Because when Hydra did it to me, I was still in there. Please. I need you to come back to me. I need you to fight it." Even if it was just this one time, so he could properly say goodbye. He just needed Anya so badly. It hadn't hit him so hard until that moment, when she was before him.

For a second, the fear that had engulfed her from the moment she noticed him in the room, was replaced with sadness. The man before her didn't seem dangerous. He just wanted her to remember him. And the request didn't seem as absurd as it had the first time she had seen him. Not since the man who looked and spoke like her brother had showed up and insisted he was Tony. Not since she had been studying the familiar yet unfamiliar photo of her and Tony for the better part of the afternoon, trying to figure out how she knew it was real in her gut. In fact, his request had a small voice inside her trying to break out. It was that voice that propelled Anna to stand and cross the distance between her and the sad man with the metal arm, who called her Anya and insisted he wouldn't hurt her. It took him whispering her name again, as a question more than a statement, to clear the fog from her mind momentarily.

"James," she whispered back, the name flashing in the forefront of her mind as she reached out her hand and rested against his cheek. A part of her remembered him, and it was fighting the fog that threatened to settle back in, somehow sensing the importance of keeping it at bay. The look of hope in the man's eyes, in James' eyes, helped her fight it a little longer. "I can't think straight; everything is blurring together."

Though James had come for a goodbye, leaving was the last thing on his mind when Anya's hand rested against his cheek and she murmured his name. Voluntarily coming into physical contact with him, as well as calling him the name only she had, was proof that she was remembering, that she was fighting it. It was proof she could come back from this without him leaving her to sort it out with those that didn't carry as much baggage; especially when that baggage included killing her parents. James couldn't walk away after that, even if he tried.

"It's okay," James reassured her, moving his hands to cradle her face gently. "We're going to make it all better. I promise."

The few precious moments where Anya recalled him were gone all too soon. Another minute and he could feel her starting to tense beneath his touch. It had him quickly removing his hands from her face and taking several steps back, even though his heart wanted him to wrap her up in his arms. That wasn't what Anya needed at the moment. It would freak her out all the more. Which was why he retreated from the room, not wanting to see the fear return to her eyes. James wanted to keep the memory of her remembering him fresh in his mind, untainted.

Heading to the elevators, that time James stopped on Steve's floor of his own accord. James didn't have to go all the way to Steve's room, he was waiting for James' on his couch in the living area off from the elevator. Making his way towards Steve, James took a seat beside him on the couch, neither of them saying a word for a few moments.

"You knew she would make me stay," James remarked, staring at the shadows falling on the floor from the light filtering in off the balcony. He didn't know how Steve had been so sure that Anya could get him to abandon the notion that him leaving was in her best interests. Or maybe he just knew seeing her again would change his mind regardless of what was in Anya's best interests. Either way, Steve had known he'd stay.

"She's the only one who could," Steve replied softly, not taking his eyes off of his hands laying in his lap. Steve had been ready to follow Bucky wherever he went, but Steve was no longer the one who could convince him to stay. Anna had touched a part of his heart that no one had yet reached, a different part than Steve had had. And Anna was the only person Bucky would stay for come Hell or high water. If Anya wouldn't go with him, he'd stay; Bucky would always choose where she was.

* * *

 _A/N Hello all my lovely readers. Yes, this is a day late. I apologize. Work and life got hectic. But I'm here and the chapter is posted now. I hope you enjoyed it! As always I'd love to hear your opinions. Thanks for all your enthusiasm over the possibility of me writing a Jefferson/mad hatter and OC story (once upon a time) it's definitely on the list of future projects now. I planned to do Steve/Emily's story next but for fun I thought I'd ask you all to_ _ **rank which of my story ideas you'd like to read in the order you'd like to read them: Steve/OC, Bruce/OC, Rumlow/OC, Jefferson/OC. I think that's all of them, if I forgot any let me knonw! And let me know any other stories you'd be interested in.**_

 _Guest review responses!_

 _To the guest who commented how everything is always so well written: thank you! It's so nice to hear you appreciate my editing process as well as my writing and that it gives you feels. Also good to know you'd love to see a Jefferson/mad hatter story_

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	8. Chapter 8

_"Locked up in her thoughts, we haven't spoke in days." rixton: beautiful excuses_

 _"You're a force of nature...I can taste the danger, but I don't want to run." bea miller: force of nature_

* * *

It was times like these that James wished he had the capability to get drunk. He'd even settle for a small buzz. Anything to make him numb to the pain and sadness he felt when thinking of the bittersweet, almost goodbye he'd had with Anya. It was frustrating, to know she was in there, and not being able to hold her, to just be close to her. He wanted to apologize for not being the man she deserved, for all the evil in his past, and to promise he could be better for her. But she didn't remember their history together, save for that slight glimpse, and any such apologies or promises wouldn't make much sense to her.

Those were the thoughts that led him to the gym. Shooting was the only thing he could think of to help him turn it all off. Pulling the trigger automatically had him emotionless, it was how he'd made it through decades of pulling it on men, women, and children. There wasn't a river deep enough to wash away his sins; there was too much blood on his hands. Flashes of every nameless face he'd killed were what had him finally lowering the gun and stepping back from the shooting range. Apparently it wasn't as automatic to turn it all off anymore.

"You start losing your ability to turn off your emotions when you start living in their world," A voice sounded behind him, the red head. He hadn't heard her approaching over the rounds he'd fired off. The fact that she was there at all, approaching him, confused him. The arrow assassin and her mostly kept to themselves, so he hadn't been forced to interact with her yet.

"But without it, you can actually start living," she added when he hadn't said anything in response to the interruption. In all honesty, he'd hoped his silence would make her uncomfortable enough to leave him alone. It was her second statement that had him thinking perhaps she was exactly the person he needed to verbalize his despairing thoughts to. He'd heard enough about her to know they had things in common that he didn't share with Steve or with Anya: a past full of killing.

"Do you ever start feeling like you deserve it?" James couldn't ever see a time when he would feel deserving of Anya and the life she brought him into. He would forever expect to wake up one day and find it was all an illusion, the best dream he'd ever had.

"No," the redhead answered bluntly, knowing he was looking for the truth, and not the sugar coated variety. "But joining SHIELD and the Avengers let me see that even though I have a red past, I can still be a hero. You don't have to be good, to do good things." Natasha wouldn't classify herself as a good person, but she sure as Hell had done some good for people and the world. That knowledge was good enough for her.

"But I want to be good, I want to do right by Anya." Anya deserved a good man, and he wasn't sure he could ever be that for her. He'd done too many bad things to be able to make up for it, but he was trying. He would always try for her.

"People like us, we were designed to do bad things for others who don't want to do it themselves," the redhead responded blatantly, a distant look in her eye telling him she was thinking of her own sordid past. "Fighting against that nature and with those who are truly good, like Steve, is how we can start reconciling the bad in our past. We can't be good in a day, but we can always strive to be better. You just have to find someone who inspires you to be a better you."

James had a feeling the arrow assassin was her person, just as Anya was his. The two spent most of their time together, slightly isolated from the others. Much how Anya and he had been before she was abducted by Hydra. Now James spent most of his time either with Steve, planning future retaliations against the organization that had done decades of damage, or alone. It was better with Steve, with a distraction. Being alone didn't suit him as much anymore. Not since Anya.

"Steve suggested I see a priest, to confess my sins to God. He thinks it will ease my mind, but I'm not even sure I believe in God." Being forsaken for so long, as well as causing so much death and destruction, almost had James hoping their wasn't a God judging him and his actions.

"Well, the boy scout doesn't comprehend the idea that some people don't have blind faith like him." It was easy for Rogers to believe in a forgiving God, he'd never done anything unspeakable or unforgiving. Rogers was the epitome of everything light and good, believing in God made sense for someone like him. For those with darker souls, it was a bit more complicated.

Natasha would have spoken more on the subject, to reassure the Winter Soldier that he didn't have to set his standards to that of Steve Rogers, had Steve himself not interrupted them. Instead, she slipped away, leaving the two super soldiers to themselves. Steve nodded in acknowledgement as she passed him before coming to stand by Bucky.

"I thought I'd find you down here," Steve commented, recalling how he had spent most of his time in the gym working off stress after re-entering the world. "Dr. Carlson's here, he's looking over the x-rays and scans now. They'll be prepping Anna for surgery soon." Steve figured James would want to be kept up to date on Anna's surgery, so it came as a surprise when James seemed disinterested, avoiding eye contact as he moved towards the armament while insisting he was going to check out the coordinates they'd gotten from the last Hydra base.

"You mean now?" Steve clarified in confusion, as he watched Bucky choose his weapons. Now didn't seem the most appropriate time to wage war on Hydra, not with Anna going under the knife in a matter of hours.

"Better now, before they evacuate them," James answered readily, having had the excuse planned. They could have gone to the coordinates earlier, but he had been waiting for the surgeon whom Tony promised was the best to arrive. By the way Steve was staring at him, James knew he wasn't going to let him off without saying something.

"You don't want to be here for the surgery, do you?" Steve asked, stunned that Bucky would want to leave Stark Tower at a time like that. That he wouldn't want to be there for Anna.

"I don't like to think about someone cutting her open," James admitted softly. The possibility that Anya might not remember even after the device was removed, that she might not even wake up after surgery, was too much. The stress of it all would drive him crazy. He needed a distraction, and revenge sounded like a pretty good one.

"What about when she wakes up to find out you're not there. How do you think that's going to make her feel?" Anna would be devastated, if Bucky wasn't waiting for her when she came back to after the surgery. This was a huge, scary thing, and Anna would want Bucky to be there when she came out of it.

"What if she doesn't wake up? What would I do then? Her life is out of my hands, I can't protect her from this, and I hate that." James was powerless when it came to this. When it came to Anya, he wasn't used to feeling that way. Being powerless in his own life was one thing, but being powerless to protect the person who meant the world to him was another.

"Pray. You ask for the strength to get through this, and you take the bad with the good like a man. Running from your emotions won't make you feel any better. If Anna did die tonight, you'd feel worse for running." Bucky had never been one to pray, only going to mass every Sunday for his grams, but at the moment, that was all he could do to help. The entire situation was out of their control, it was in the doctor's and God's hands.

"You're responsible for anything I break while waiting," James finally retorted, returning the weapons before following Steve up to Tony's floor, where the others would wait for Anya to come out of surgery.

…

Ever since the man with the metal arm had come to see her, Anna couldn't get his face out of her mind. Her head was telling her to fear him, but her heart was fighting against that notion. He was familiar, and her heart wanted to trust him, wanted him to return, but he hadn't. Her mind was still trying to process everything, several steps behind her heart. It wanted to understand why her heart felt a connection to him, but was having trouble with the translation. Eventually, Anna gave in and asked Jarvis to give her a visual of the man with the metal arm, hoping studying his face might help her mind catch up with her heart. She hadn't expected the video feed she'd gotten. It was obviously from a security camera, as there was no sound to it and the man didn't seem to realize he was being filmed.

Anna spent most of the day watching the man, studying his facial features, memorizing them and trying to remember them. It was his lost eyes that drew her in, and spurred random snippets popping up in her memory. By the time the redhead interrupted him, Anna wasn't sure what she was feeling. However, when the redhead stepped closer, obviously having a deep conversation with the man, red hot jealousy burned in Anna's stomach. It was so intense, she wasn't sure where it had come from. She had no claim on the man with the metal arm, that she remembered, and yet she couldn't help but feel the remnants of an attachment. Wanting the confusing emotions to dissipate, she ordered Jarvis to turn it off, resorting to curling up in the blankets to try and ebb the jealousy and pain away.

However, with the TV off, it reminded her of how isolated she really was. One of the worst things about being stuck in a room alone was the lack of any distractions. Anna could only stand watching daytime television for so long, and after the footage of the man with the metal arm, she was a little afraid of what she would see if she turned the TV on again. When her bedroom doors opened once more, something that had only happened a handful of times while she was awake, as food always seemed to be delivered while she was asleep or in the bathroom, Anna was half expecting to see the man with the metal arm, or her brother's doppelganger. To her surprise, it was neither.

"Pepper?" Anna asked, confused and surprised that her brother's old personal assistant was a part of her being held captive.

"Hello Anna," Pepper murmured, seeming nervous as she approached Anna on the bed. "I know you're confused, and probably really scared, right now, but I wanted to let you know you are here for your own protection. Certain people have just really mucked it all up."

Pepper avoided mentioning Tony by name, knowing Anna's state of mind had him dead years ago. She didn't want to freak her out any more than she already was. Pepper would have preferred not to be the one to do this, didn't think it was necessary at all, but Tony insisted. He claimed there was no way Anna would provide consent to a surgery she didn't think she needed, and seeing as she was way above the legal age where he could make legal decisions for her, he concluded she had to be sedated while the doctor was there. Hence why Pepper's nerves were on edge, as she hid a needle in her pocket.

She really couldn't believe she'd agreed to it. But once again, Tony insisted she was the only one that could get close enough to Anna without causing her too much alarm. Tony couldn't do it, he was dead to Anna. Any of the other Avengers didn't exist yet to Anna, besides Steve whom in her mind hadn't been found. It had to be Pepper. Thankfully it didn't take long for Anna to succumb to the sedative, with Pepper cradling her as she did. Although the look of betrayal in her eyes stung Pepper. She'd make Tony pay for forcing her to be the one to do this. Even if it was in Anna's best interest.

Returning from a business meeting to find out that Anna had returned, but her memory was iffy at best, had been the worst start to the week. Pulling a Tony, Pepper had buried herself in her work to avoid the pain of the reality of Anna not remembering the family she had created, though none were blood related. She could only hope that this surgeon could work miracles and bring the Anna they knew and loved back to them.

…

"As you can see, we've got the area all prepared for you. Everything is sterilized and contains all the items Jarvis told me were required for neurosurgery." Tony announced as he gave Dr. Carlson a tour of the lab area they'd prepared for him.

"You never said I was performing surgery, Tony," Dr. Carlson stated dryly, crossing his arms as he stared down the billionaire. All Tony had told him was he wanted Dr. Carlson to look at his sisters scans. He should have known Tony would expect more than that for how much he was paying.

"You wouldn't have come if I had. I'll host a charity ball for your hospital to make up for it. Now, Bruce over there is going to show you the scans while I get the patient," Tony insisted, boarding the elevator before the doctor could respond. He sincerely hoped Pepper had managed to sedate his sister, seeing as the doctor was already hesitant about an unplanned procedure. The last thing he needed was his sister refusing said procedure, seeing as he'd already forged her signature on the necessary papers.

When the elevator doors dinged open on his floor, Tony was surprised to find Capsicle and a very tense Tin Man sitting on his couch. Apparently Pepper had designated their floor as the waiting area until the surgery was over, something Tony didn't appreciate. They had different floors for specific reasons. If Tin Man broke any of his things, which looked like a distinct possibility from the set of his jaw, Tony was holding Capsicle responsible for replacing it.

Entering Anna's room, Tony found Pepper struggling with the dead weight of Anna Banana. She glared daggers at him when she noticed him, muttering something about how horrible he was for making her do that. Taking Anna in his arms, he simply countered by conceding to 17% of the tower now belonging to her as he carried Anna out, careful not to hit her head off of anything. There had been enough damage done to her memory, he didn't need to contribute to it. Tin Man rose from his seat when he saw Tony carrying an unconscious Anna, an anxious look on his face, but Tony simply waved him off. She had only been sedated, he needed to save that worry for the actual procedure.

"By the looks of it, there's a good chance that, if you remove the device, you remove the effects it has. It seems to be altering the mind via electronic pulses via the neurons, so taking it away would logically eliminate the adverse effects. Though I can't say for certain until I'm in there. What does it do? And how exactly did it get in there?" Dr. Carlson asked, turning his attention to Dr. Banner. He seemed a bit nervous with the question, glancing around the room as though stalling for an answer. It only served to raise the doctor's suspicions.

"I think I'm paying enough for the no questions policy, don't you Tom?" Tony interrupted the two as he made his way into the lab with, who Dr. Carlson could only presume was his sister. The fact that the girl was unconscious didn't help lessen the doctor's unease about this whole visit.

"I really don't feel comfortable operating until I discuss the procedure with the patient." As usual, Tony didn't listen to the doctor, simply pointed to the signed documents on his desk before setting Anna down on a nearby table. Dr. Carlson scrutinized the document for a long while before signing them himself, assuming that even if it wasn't Tony's sister's signature—which he would refute that possibility if it ever came to court—Tony had a good reason for wanting whatever that device was removed. It couldn't' be doing anything good to the girl's mind.

"I'll need you two to scrub in with me and assist. I wasn't aware coming here that I'd need to bring nurses," Dr. Carlson finally consented, hoping he wouldn't live to regret this lapse in professional judgement.

…

It had been hours. Normally, James was used to sitting still and quiet for hours on end, but this was different. Every second that ticked by was another reason to worry that something was going wrong with the surgery. How long did this sort of thing normally take? James didn't know, but it had to be over soon. He couldn't take the stress. It was around that thought that Jarvis came on overhead, asking for Pepper in the lab: Anya needed more blood. That was the tipping point for James. That confirmation that something wasn't going right had him on his feet and making a beeline for the balcony. He needed air, the air was too thick inside, it had his airways constricting and feeling as if he would suffocate.

Heaving deep breaths once he'd reached the balcony, James cradled his head in his hands, trying to deal with the swarm of emotions attacking him from all sides. He wasn't used to feeling so much at one time: fear, pain, anxiety, and anger. It was too much, he needed to quiet them all, so he channeled it all into rage, sending his metal fist flying into the side of the building and shattering glass. Unfortunately, it didn't make him feel even remotely better. It just made a mess that he hoped Anya would be around to make him apologize for later.

"This is all my fault," James murmured when he felt Steve coming to stand behind him. "If I'd just left her alone after I'd freed her from Hydra, none of this would have happened." It had been selfish of him, to stay with her once she was out of Hydra's grasp. He should have left her to go his own way, and she never would have been on Rumlow's radar. But he couldn't leave her behind him when she had been the first person to treat him like a human being.

"Rumlow has been interested in Anna ever since she started helping out with SHIELD. He would have come for her whether you were with her or not. The only difference would be she wouldn't be safe now if it wasn't for you." Rumlow had always been obsessed. It just seemed getting severely burned to a crisp intensified that obsession

"He wouldn't have found her in the museum if she hadn't been trying to help me remember. It is my fault, and I will fix this." James muttered, setting his shoulders as he turned towards Steve with a hard look in his eyes.

"We're going to go on a manhunt for Rumlow now, aren't we?" Steve sighed, knowing that all paths led to revenge equaling pain in Bucky's logic. Even though living happily with Anna would be just as revengeful as killing Rumlow.

"You don't have to help me," James insisted, only causing Steve to send him a wry smile.

"Of course I do Bucky," that's what best friends did. He followed him to war, he wouldn't stop now. "But you still owe it to Anna to wait until she wakes up," Steve added, knowing it would make Bucky stay, just as it had last time. Though it also had the unintentional effect of increasing Bucky's anxiety as his face paled and he once more murmured the question: what if she didn't wake up?

"She's going to wake up Bucky, she's a fighter and she's strong." Bucky simply nodded his head distractedly, as though he was only doing it for Steve's benefit, as he returned inside to pace a hole into the living room floor. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

 _A/N Hello my lovely, patient readers. Work has been Hell lately. I've been burnt out with everything that needs to be done and I didn't want to force writing when I was too tired to think properly. Hopefully this chapter turned out all right even with the strain of work. It seems like the majority of you want to see Steve/OC next then it's a toss up between Jefferson and Bruce after that. I'll have to see which I feel like writing after Steve. Maybe I'll need a break from the Marvel universe, or maybe I'll be craving to write more of it. Let me know what you think! I do so appreciate your feedback :)_

 _Guest Review Responses!_

 _To the guest who gave me a list of their three top stories I would write and their order: Thank you for the feedback. I think I will do Steve's first just because I already introduced his OC in this story. I will def do Bruce one too though!_

 _To the guest who sai "OMG I can't take this": sorry it's so intense, it will start getting better for Janya, I promise._

 _To the guest who said "Another amazing chapter": thank you! So happy to hear you're liking it. And to know you are interested in Jefferson/oc. It will be written I promise! Just be patient with me._

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	9. Chapter 9

" _The bed's getting cold and you're not here, the future that we hold is so unclear, but…I'll bet the odds against it all. Save your advice, 'cause I won't hear. You might be right, but I don't care. There's a million reasons why I should give you up, but the heart wants what it wants." Alexi Blue cover The Heart Wants What it Wants_

* * *

Pain. Pain was attacking her from all sides, both physical and emotional. She couldn't open her eyes, stuck in the dark as thousands of memories flickered in her mind. She couldn't decide if the burning pain at the base of her neck, or the emotional pinpricks that accompanied the memories, was worse. Maybe it was the fact that she was trapped in silence and darkness, alone and unable to move, while suffering from the pain.

"Shouldn't she be awake by now? Why isn't she waking up?" James insisted, his forehead creased in worry as he stared at Pepper. She was the one who had brought the news that Anna was out of surgery, but she still hadn't come to. Once again, she had to be the bearer of bad news.

"Tony's theory is that her brain is trying to process the memories that had been repressed. Perhaps even the ones created by the device as well as those made while the device was in. It's in overload now. Like a computer, her mind is taking time to reboot." Of course, Tony had used more technical jargon which Pepper had to ask him to simplify. Not that it mattered how the news was delivered to James. It'd mean the same thing regardless.

It was exactly what James had been terrified of: Anya not waking up again. That the last time he would get to see her, would be when she hadn't truly remembered who he was. It didn't help at all when Pepper added that they would be moving her to her room, so she's more comfortable. More comfortable to what? To die? Were they preparing to help ease her into death's arms? Because, to James, it made more sense to keep her in the lab, where all the medical crap was that could help her should she start to crash.

Noticing the increasing look of anxiety growing on James' face, Pepper assured him that everything was okay, that Tony would never move Anna if he thought it might hurt her health. She even told him he could sit with her until she woke up if he wanted. But he didn't want to freak her out if she woke up and was having trouble with her memories. He wasn't the kind of person one usually looked forward to seeing, because seeing him usually insinuated death.

"I'll sit with her," the redhead volunteered, surprising, it seemed, even Pepper. Apparently the redhead and Anya weren't normally that close. "As a fellow female who's had her memories toyed with, I think I could relate to her."

There was only a small moment of hesitation before Pepper agreed, after which she went to help Tony and the doctor move Anna. In truth, Pepper was relieved that Natasha had volunteered to sit with Anna until she woke up. Though Pepper would have, she didn't feel that their last encounter would evoke anything but negative feelings from Anna. However, someone needed to be there for her when she did wake up, and it was probably best to have a female there. Less obtrusive.

Before the redhead made a move towards Anya's room, James reached out his hand to stop her. When she turned a questioning glance on him, one eyebrow raised, he simply slipped her the file she had originally given Rogers. He wanted her to give it to Anna, to have her read it, claiming she deserved to know the truth about everything he'd done. It ultimately surprised Natasha that he would give up the information of his past so easily for Anna. Natasha often feared what would happen if others learned the whole truth of her past. It wasn't information she would just hand over willingly, as it would most likely change the way they looked at her. She took the file anyways, agreeing to his request.

It was several more hours before Anna finally regained consciousness. Her eye flickered open, after several tries of blinking away whatever was sticking them together. It took her a moment to realize she was still in her room, and then the memories of what had happened the last time she was awake had a slight panic taking over. When Natasha noticed the movement out of the corner of her eyes, she immediately sat up straighter in the arm chair she was occupying. It was obvious that Anna was confused and scared, and it had her wanting to do something to help. It was what she wished someone had done for her.

"Don't fight the memories. It will only confuse you more," Natasha murmured softly, causing Anna to turn her head to the best of her ability.

"Natasha?" Anna whispered hoarsely, her voice practically dead and dry from the hours of not using it. "What are you doing here? And how would you know?" Anna was so confused. There were conflicting memories wading around her mind and she had no idea which ones were true. It was starting to give her a headache. Not to mention the confusion of why Natasha was sitting in her room when the two had never been particularly close. Where was Pepper, Tony, and James? Or were the memories of Tony not coming back from Iraq true? Anna could only hope they weren't.

"I'm here to help. And I know because I tried to fight my own memories when they became too much," It was not a good idea to fight your mind because it would only lead to creating more confusion. "The device that was injected into your neck wasn't just a tracer. It altered your memories, giving you false ones to replace the real ones."

Someone had been altering her memories? That was kind of a hard concept to grasp. Anna supposed using electronic pulses to the memory parts of the brain might make such a thing possible, but it was still a futuristic sounding technology to her. It'd be harder to believe if it didn't explain the confusing and contradicting memories that were floating around her head, colliding with one another.

"How do you know which ones to believe? Which ones are real?" Trying to sort through them all now was causing a stress headache, so if there was an easier way to do it, she'd very much like to know.

"It was a gut instinct for me. The fake ones that are placed there don't seem to fit, they are their own story line, not part of the bigger picture." Natasha recalled it seeming almost as though someone had edited together a video: once she watched it a few times, it was easier to tell where parts were cut and pasted.

"What caused the avalanche of memories to come crashing down and make my neck hurt and my body feel like it's filled with lead?" Anna had tried moving her arms and legs, with little success. Something was seriously not right with her, but she was trying not to freak out. It would only make her head hurt worse and possibly scare Natasha away.

"That would be due to the device being removed surgically," Natasha responded as though it should be obvious. She hadn't been informed that Anna wasn't exactly aware that she'd gone under the knife.

"I had surgery?!" Anna gaped at her, shocked. Of course, it made sense: why she was getting the memories back, the lead feeling, and the dry mouth. Anesthesia would be the reason for the last two, and surgery itself for the first. "Tony didn't perform it did he?" God help her if Tony had cut her open. He was brilliant when it came to machines, but not the human anatomy. Well, at least the human anatomy apart from that required for all those women who had stayed the night throughout the years…before Pepper that was.

"No, he flew a surgeon in for you. He did however scrub in as a nurse to assist." Natasha answered before moving to offer Anna the glass of water that was setting beside her bed, noticing how chapped her lips were. To her surprise, Anna reluctantly rejected the liquid, claiming it wasn't a good idea to eat or drink anything after surgery. If she couldn't move, that meant the anesthesia hadn't been metabolized by her body, and the chances of her throwing up if she ingested anything were still high.

"No offense, but how come you're the one here? Where's James?" Anna could understand Tony not being there if he just spent the last however many hours helping with her surgery, something she'd have to discuss with him at some point. Simply because using Pepper to drug Anna so she couldn't decline surgery was wrong and someone should chew him out for it. Pepper's absence also made sense, she was probably feeling guilty over sedating her, even if it wasn't her idea. James, however, Anna would have expected to see him waiting for her to wake up. It admittedly hurt that he wasn't there.

"He didn't want to overwhelm you. I think he was a little afraid of how you'd react to him." Natasha admitted, feeling as though the latter was true, even when the Winter Soldier hadn't told her it directly. Anna's response was a simple 'that's crazy,' though it was muffled and distorted because of the yawn that forced itself out when she was trying to speak. It made it abundantly clear that she needed more rest.

"Did I ever work for Hydra, willingly?" Anna forced out the question before succumbing to another yawn. There were multiple memories of her working with Hydra to help them create some kind of human weapon, something that disturbed her. She didn't like to think she had been a part of something so unethical. Though the truth might make her hate herself, it would also help identify a lot of false memories.

"No, you've worked in a VA hospital since your residency days. Down in DC. You also helped patch up SHIELD agents, when SHIELD was still a thing." It was weird to think that SHIELD had disintegrated into practically nothing, as SHIELD had been the first good organization Natasha had worked for. At least, she had thought it had been good when she joined. Recent events showed that wasn't entirely true.

Relief flowed through Anna at the assurance that she hadn't been a part of Hydra of her own accord. Those memories had been planted in her mind, though she couldn't help but feel that she had helped them with a project while under the influence of the device. If she wasn't so exhausted, she might have been able to recall exactly what she'd been working on for however long she had been under Hydra's control.

"If I fall asleep, will you still be here when I wake up?" She knew she couldn't fight it much longer, but the idea of waking up to an empty room slightly terrified her. Anna had had quite enough of solitude.

"I've got nowhere else better to be at the moment," Natasha assured her with a shrug, settling back into the arm chair. She was used to waiting hours, even days, for missions. Waiting for Anna to wake up again wouldn't be that different. Besides, she had some reading material, having kept the file beside her in the chair. Seeing as Anna couldn't move her body, she doubted if she'd be able to read the file and comprehend much. Perhaps when she woke again, Natasha would give it over to the younger Stark.

…

Natasha had read through the file twice before Anna stirred awake again. That time her mobility had increased so that she could ease herself up to a slight seated position against the pillows. Natasha surrendered the file to her after that, reporting that James had wanted her to read it. Readying herself to leave, offering up some privacy to Anna as she read, Natasha was surprised when Anna asked her to stay.

"I've been alone for weeks. The last thing I need or want is to be stuck all alone again." Natasha sat back down after Anna's request. In some ways, Natasha was impressed at how open Anna was, how willing she was to want Natasha to stay while she read something that would make her emotionally vulnerable. In another way, Natasha couldn't help but feel that was Anna's weakness: her lack of concern of letting others know exactly how she felt.

Regardless of her feelings on the subject, Natasha stayed through every painstakingly awkward moment of Anna reading James' file. Even when she noticed the silent tears falling from the girl's eyes. Whether they be tears for what the Winter Soldier had done, or for what he had gone through, Natasha didn't know and she didn't dare ask. She just sat staring at the opposite wall and pretending that she didn't notice the tears at all.

For Anna, reading the file hurt. It hurt to know everything that James had done, all the innocent people he had killed, and especially knowing that none of it was his choice. It hurt to read how much pain he had gone through over the years. And it hurt because it reminded her that he wasn't there with her now. To talk through it, or just to sit with her while she tried to get her memories in order. She appreciated Natasha being there when she didn't have to, but it's not who Anna wanted sitting beside her at that moment.

"Could you do me a favor," Anna spoke softly, for the first time since taking the file from Natasha. Natasha, who had been pretending not to notice Anna's reaction to the file, turned her eyes on Anna, waiting for the request. "Get James for me. I want…I need to see him."

…

When James was informed that Anya was asking for him, his stomach twisted uneasily. If she was asking for him, that meant she remembered him, but it could also mean she'd seen the file and knew just how dark his past was. Of course, she had always known his past wasn't clean. But speculating on what he'd done, and actually reading word for word, were two completely different things. The thought that she might look at him with horror in her eyes, even after regaining her memories, terrified him and set his nerves on edge. She wasn't supposed to ask for him after reading the file. It was meant to have her send him away.

He knocked before entering, only doing so after hearing her soft voice telling him to. It was the first time he'd seen her since Tony had taken her down to surgery. She looked exhausted, as though it was a struggle to keep her eyes open. Pain was etched on her face, and he couldn't tell if it was from the surgery, or if the pain was internal, emotional. Probably a mixture of both. James knew the pain and confusion that came with trying to remember what was taken from you.

"You weren't here. When I woke up," Anya murmured, the first to speak between them. It wasn't a question, but James still felt the need to provide an answer, a reason.

"You were scared of me Anya. You've never been scared of me, and I didn't want to see you look at me that way, again." It was hard enough the first couple times. His heart couldn't take seeing terror in her eyes when she looked at him, not when it was what he always thought he deserved.

"I was brought back to the mindset of the girl I was before med school, and given false memories that altered my trust; that actually gave me trust issues. The girl I was under the influence of that device was manufactured and not at all the girl I am." James should know that, seeing as the same thing had happened to him. It was the way Anna had always looked at his past, that he was made into someone who would follow orders, no matter how cruel and terrible they were. It wasn't until that moment that Anna began to realize that James didn't consider him and the Winter Soldier to be different. He fully blamed himself for everything he was made to do under Hydra's control.

"There's a part of me that believes it would be better if you did have that mind set. It let you see the truth of what I am and let you live your life free of my baggage." None of this would have happened to Anya if she had just seen him the way everyone else had, if she'd been afraid of him from the get go.

"I don't care about the baggage. And you're the one who can't see the truth of what you are: a hero and a brave man. Why are you pushing me away now?" Anna's voice was rising, growing thicker with emotions as she was coming closer and closer to tears. She couldn't imagine, nor remember, what she had done to have him flying so far in reverse.

"Didn't you read the file, Anya?" He muttered darkly as he picked up the folder and glared at it. When she murmured an affirmative, he moved his eyes up to meet hers. "Then you know I don't deserve you. I killed a lot of people Anya. I killed your parents," He growled out, tossing the folder onto the bed. "Why are you not giving up on me? What is it going to take for you to see I'm a bad man, that I'm bad for you?"

James knew his anger was directed at the wrong person. He wasn't truly angry with Anya, he was angry with himself. For believing he could have someone like her, and that he wouldn't just bring her down with him. The realization that, no matter what he did, he couldn't redeem himself from his past had started to ebb its way into his mind during the surgery. He'd hoped that, after reading his file, Anya would understand that. That she wouldn't want to see him and he could just fade into her past: become the ghost he was always seen as. Because he had to admit that he was a better ghost than he was a human being. He had more practice with it.

"James Buchanan Barnes," Anna choked out, her anger growing as she continued to process what he'd said. "You are not your past. Hydra killed my parents, they ordered the attack and would have carried it out with or without you. I don't blame you for them." Anna had been around enough military personnel to know that if an order was given, you followed it no matter the consequences on yourself. If you didn't, you got reprimanded by your commanding officer and they just gave the task to another soldier. She'd come across enough traumatized soldiers at the VA, heard enough of their stories, to know how the chain of command worked.

"And I am never going to give up on you." Anna continued before James could interrupt, running with the momentum she had been gaining. "Because there is good in you, whether you admit to it or not. And because you don't give up on people you love."

* * *

 _A/N: Yes this is late, uber uber late. I apologize to everyone. Same old excuses, so I won't repeat them. Thank you for your patience! This chapter was fun to write because it's a step closer to Janya. And Anna just made a pretty big…though a bit unintentional…confession. Hope you enjoyed it, let me know what you thought!_

 _Guest Review Responses:_

 _Jo: So glad you're loving the story, and thank you for saying I'm talented glad you think so. There is definitely a Steve/OC on the horizon. Taking place in this universe I've created. Emily will be the OC, she was mentioned a few chapters back._

 _To the Guest who said: Steve/oc please! Yes there will be a steve/oc story, with Emily, as I stated in response to Jo. :) She isn't exactly a damsel in distress (I don't like to write female characters that can't at least partially handle themselves) but she isn't going to be an avenger. Sorry!_

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	10. Chapter 10

_"I won't give up on us, even if the skies get rough. I'm giving you all my love, I'm still looking up..._ _Cause even the stars they burn, some even fall to the earth. We've got a lot to learn, but God knows we're worth it." Alex G I Won't Give Up cover_

* * *

Anna had covered her face in embarrassment as soon as she realized what she had admitted aloud. James had had to gently pry her hands away before he could press his lips against hers. He poured words he couldn't say into that kiss, only stopping when Jarvis reported that Anya's heart rate was increasing, threatening to get Tony if it rose any further. It was a memory that always had him smiling over the weeks of Anya recovering, as it was the closest he allowed himself to get to her throughout her recovery. At least while she was awake.

James made it his duty to ensure Anya wasn't overwhelmed by anyone, including himself, while she was trying to regain her strength. To distract himself, he threw himself into tracking down possible locations for Rumlow with Sam and Steve, and training with Natasha whenever the other two got tired of planning attacks. James only let himself be with Anya during the night, sitting himself in a chair beside her bed as he watched over her while she slept. She was prone to nightmares after the surgery, tossing and turning, sometimes even crying. Whenever Anya got like that, James would take her hand in his and speak softly to her in Russian until he eased her back into a peaceful sleep.

It was hard, keeping his distance after finally getting Anya back, especially after what she had said after waking up from surgery. It would be entirely too easy to suffocate her by never leaving her side, but it wasn't what she needed. First and foremost she needed to heal, physically and mentally. From James' experience, that meant having time alone to work through everything. What he didn't understand, was not everyone coped with reacquainting themselves with their mind like he did. And Anya would have preferred for James not to keep so much distance between them.

…

"You haven't told her, have you?" Steve finally steered the conversation towards a subject Bucky had been avoiding ever since he'd let what Anna said to him slip.

"Told who, what?" Sam perked up, wanting to partake in any conversation that took his mind off the mind numbing task of surveillance. They'd been sitting outside the building in the lower east side of Manhattan for five hours with no sign of Rumlow.

"Anna told Bucky she loves him. And this coward hasn't responded verbally. At least not in a language she understands." Steve filled Sam in on the basics while James simply glared at Steve from his left. It wasn't the sidekick's business, James had told Steve that in confidence.

"Seriously man?" Sam turned towards James, ignoring the glare James now focused on him. "When a girl like Anna says she loves a war ridden man like one of us, you say it back." Honestly, it took a special kind of person to not only accept a man dealing with issues from war, but to love one.

"She knows how I feel," James insisted through gritted teeth, wanting the conversation to be over. And though he'd been certain Anya was aware his feelings before, Steve and the sidekick's reaction had the seed of doubt planted.

"I see movement," Steve interrupted, drawing the attention of both as their heads snapped in the direction Steve was facing. It took Sam, with his normal human eyesight, a little longer to see what Steve and James already had: the door falling shut on the back of an old building. No one used the emergency exit to enter a building, unless they were trying to go unnoticed.

"I'll take the side entrance, Bucky you follow him from the back, and Sam will enter through the roof." Steve directed the group, a step behind Bucky as he was already heading towards the back door with a determined look in his eyes. Steve had a gut feeling that if Bucky reached him first, Rumlow would be in pieces by the time the others reached him. The only problem Steve had with that, was it would mean losing possible coordinates for other Hydra bases. Though after everything Rumlow had done to Bucky, he deserved to be brought to justice, even if it was Bucky's form of justice.

James circled each floor carefully, not leaving a single area unchecked. It wasn't until the sixth floor that he heard anything. Working his way around east side of the building, he launched himself at the target as he rounded the corner, knocking both the target and the bag he'd held to the ground. Towering over the fallen figure, James was about to launch his metal fist into the back of the target's head before he turned around and revealed himself to be a she. It wasn't Rumlow. Whoever it was, looked understandably terrified.

"I don't have much cash," the woman finally spoke, her hands going to the purse that had fallen by her side along with the bag of groceries she'd been carrying. She thought he wanted her money. "You can take what I have."

"I don't want your money." James grumbled, backing away from the disappointment that yet another lead had been fruitless. It had frustration burning through him, though pounding his metal fist into the wall beside him helped lessen it, if only slightly. Of course, that's when Steve decided to show up, immediately going to the aid of the woman and asking if she was alright. Of course she was. James hadn't hurt her, just startled her a bit. And it's not as if he did it on purpose, he'd thought she was Rumlow. They all had.

"I'm just saying next time look before you attack." Steve explained to Bucky after helping the woman with her groceries and retrieving Sam from the twelfth floor. Luckily the woman wasn't pressing any charges, but Bucky might not be so lucky next time. Hurting innocent people wasn't what they were trying to do. Steve knew Bucky hadn't meant to attack an innocent woman, but he still had. And they needed to make sure it didn't happen again, accident or not.

"Hesitating can mean death. How about next time you give better intel?" James countered as he slid into the back seat of the car Tony had leant them for their missions.

…

"Did they take the bait?" Rumlow questioned as soon as Julia had returned. He had been waiting to hear if she was successful for hours now. When it came to the asset and Anna, he didn't like waiting.

"The one with the metal arm almost killed me, but yes the bug was planted." Julia sighed, tossing Rumlow the remote radio. "Should be channel four."

Honestly, if he wasn't family, Julia wouldn't put up with this crap. Julia wasn't stupid, she watched the news and knew just what her brother had been into with Hydra. It was only because he was so badly injured, had left the terrorist group, and because he was family that she was doing this for him. Besides, he was just trying to save a girl from Hydra and from the man who almost knocked Julia dead on the spot. Brock was trying to fix his mistakes. That was a start.

"How do you expect listening in on them will help you?" Julia asked as she went to the kitchen to put away the groceries. Of course, she had to throw out the apples, as most of them were bruised from the fall. Stupid man with the metal arm.

"It will let me know when to strike next. You can learn a lot from what people say in everyday conversations," Rumlow answered distractedly as he tuned into the channel. Somehow the Avengers had managed to disengage the device he'd placed in Anna's neck. He needed some other way to get Anna back. If he couldn't locate her at a moment's notice nor control her memories, then Rumlow would settle to listening to the inner workings of Stark Tower until he found a weak link.

"Maybe you should focus on returning to your full strength before you go saving this girl," Julia suggested, calling out from the kitchen. Not that Rumlow was paying her much attention. He was too busy listening to his new favorite radio station.

…

As soon as James returned to Stark Tower, he checked on Anya via Jarvis. Upon hearing she was stable and safe, he made his way towards the gym. He knew he'd find Natasha there. After the day he'd had, James could use a good sparring match with someone who wasn't afraid to fight a little dirty. Natasha didn't seem surprised to see him there, nor to find him in a foul mood. She hadn't expected finding Rumlow to be an easy feat. He was resourceful.

Accepting the sparring invitation, she started the attack, sending a sharp kick to his side as she dodged his grasp. His attack was fierce, a sign of his anger and frustration, however it lasted longer than it normally did when he came back empty handed from a steak out. Something else was bothering him. And whatever that something was, fighting wasn't allowing him to let go of it. He needed to talk it out, something Natasha knew he wasn't keen on.

"Alright, spit it out. What's bothering you?" Natasha grunted as Barnes slammed her into the floor mat, managing to roll onto her feet before he could smash his fist into her side.

"I told you," James answered, blocking her attack, however unable to dodge the electrode she flung at him. It stung worse when it connected with his flesh rather than his metal arm.

"There's something else," Natasha insisted with a smirk as she watched him rip off the electrode. She enjoyed sparring with Barnes, they had an anything goes policy.

"What's a good way to let a girl know how you feel about her?" James finally asked after an internal debate. He figured he might as well ask Natasha, seeing as Steve's answer would be something along the lines of just straight up telling her.

"I thought you and Anya worked all that crap out," Natasha commented, slightly surprised at what was bothering Barnes. "And why are you asking me?" It's not as if she had much romantic experience to go on. Staying alive in her line of work usually entailed not making personal bonds like that.

"Because you're a girl." James thought that part would be fairly obvious.

"I'm not the kind of girl who guys admit their feelings to. If they admire me, they do it from afar." Natasha always felt she intimidated most of the men she came in contact with. She wasn't the relationship type, at least she hadn't been before.

"Barton doesn't keep his distance," James retorted with a smirk, his comment earning him an elbow to his face.

"It's not like that with us," Natasha replied with a slight blush, covering her embarrassment with another swift hit to his shoulder.

"If it was, how would you want him to show it?" James had thought he had been showing Anya how he felt fairly clearly. He hadn't rejected her after her confession. He'd done the opposite by kissing her. He thought that spoke his intentions clearly.

"I don't know, by giving me a new set of guns?" Natasha shrugged, dodging James' left fist and retreating to the corner of the mat.

"Anya doesn't like guns," James stated, a crease forming between his brows as he tried to think of what she would like. He remembered Steve mentioning something about flowers, but he wanted to give her something more lasting and personal than that.

"Then get her something she likes. Or make something. Just don't steal it. Though I don't mind stolen merchandise, Anna seems the type that would." Taking advantage of Barnes' distraction, Natasha forced him off the mat with a swift kick to his stomach, leaving her the victor. It was the only rule they ever followed: whoever stepped foot off the mat first loses.

"You could always tell her, you know." Natasha called after Barnes after he picked himself off the floor and headed towards the elevator without a word. He simply waved her off and claimed she was sounding like Steve. If she didn't watch it, she'd start sparring clean like him as well.

…

Anna was tired of bed rest, and tired of Pepper having to wash her hair for her. The stitches had yet to be removed, and the scar was not to get wet. Anna was not coordinated enough to wash her own hair and keep the wound dry, and though she didn't like having to rely on Pepper to wash her hair, she disliked dirty hair more.

"Sit still, or it's only going to hurt," Pepper chided as she continued trying to braid Anna's freshly washed hair. It was getting harder for Anna to sit still, not the Pepper could blame her. It had been weeks, and overcautious Tony was still forbidding Bruce to help Anna get accustomed to walking again.

"I can't sit still anymore Pepper. It's beyond time for me to receive physical therapy and start walking again. I can't stand being stuck in this room." She was a doctor, why wouldn't anyone listen to her. And why was the doctor who operated on her not demanding she start walking by now? Was Tony really paying him enough to have him abandon his oath as a doctor to do what was best for his patients'? Or had he already left?

"I'll see what I can do about Tony. But you have sit still until I am finished with your hair." Pepper insisted, trying to sound firm, but failing. Even when Anna, despite her best efforts, continued to fiddle. "Is there something more bothering you?" Anna's restlessness had been growing for weeks, but it was more than just being stuck in her room. Pepper knew the difference between an annoyed Anna and a hurt Anna.

"I think I've made a huge mistake," Anna murmured, plucking at a loose thread on the comforter. "I may have, accidently, told James that I love him. Made all the more embarrassing when he never said it back."

"You told him you love him?!" Pepper exclaimed, smiling brightly as she tied off the end of Anna's braid. To be honest, Pepper had feared that, after Brent, Anna wouldn't be able to admit her feelings to anyone.

"Yes, and now I've ruined everything. He's distant and he's been hanging around Nat more. I mean, it makes sense. That she'd be more his type. They have similar life experiences, they can train together without him holding back, and they can speak Russian with one another. How can I compete with that?" Anna knew she was babbling, but she couldn't help it. Whenever she asked Jarvis where James was, as he was once again not with her, he'd report he was with Nat, or with Steve and Sam tracking down Hydra. She had scared him off. She'd think he didn't care at all anymore, was it not for that kiss after her untimely confession. Or for the fact that she swore she sensed him beside her just before dozing off each night, murmuring things in Russian that she couldn't understand.

"Anna," Pepper sighed, turning her around so she could look her in the eyes. "Have you told him any of this?" Pepper knew James wasn't being distant on purpose to make a statement on his feelings. He was new to all of this, if what Tony had told her about his past was true. He was clueless when it came to expressing his feelings.

"Are you kidding? One embarrassing confession was bad enough." Anna insisted, giving Pepper the 'you're crazy' look. Even if she wanted to tell James any of that, she never had the opportunity to. He was never there.

"I think you should." Of course Pepper did, because it wasn't Pepper who had to put her heart and pride on the line…again.

"If you go get Bruce for me, to start my physical therapy immediately, I'll tell him," Anna countered, not expecting Pepper to actually do it. However, twenty minutes later Bruce was knocking at her door, entering once she gave her reply. Not that Anna was upset. She was finally going to receive the physical therapy she should have received a while ago.

It was slow moving when Bruce finally got Anna to her feet. Holding onto his arm, she let him steer her out into the hallway. At her request they went towards the balcony, as she hadn't had fresh air in what felt like months. Thankfully, Bruce was patient with her, waiting as she leaned against the balcony and took in the sights of the city. Anna enjoyed being outside. However, seeing the New York sky line only had Anna homesick for DC and the independence she'd had there. Not that she didn't appreciate Tony putting her and James up in the Tower. It was just, sometimes she couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if Tony hadn't found them, and they'd been on their own all this time. If it had been James and her against Hydra and the world.

It was similar thoughts to those that continued to occupy Anna's mind as she stared out over the city. As the sun was starting to set, and the air had turned a bit chilly, was when Anna decided it was about time to return to her bedroom. It was just her luck that was when movement from the corner of her eye caught her attention: James stepping off the elevator inside. It had her rethinking her plan of moving back to her room until James was gone. Even with her promise to Pepper, Anna didn't want to deal with the humiliation of talking to James at that moment. Especially not with Bruce as a witness.

Of course, as fate, or in this case Tony, would have it, Bruce couldn't stay with her. From what Anna could hear from Bruce's phone, where Tony's shouts were echoing from, there was apparently an emergency in the lab involving the new iron man parts he was working on. Thankfully, after much insistence, Anna was able to convince Bruce to leave her alone on the balcony. It probably had something to do with her promise to have Jarvis get someone when she wanted to come in. Even though she really could have done with laying back down, her body physically drained from the short excursion after being on bed rest for several weeks, Anna would prefer that to the awkward and embarrassing conversation that would take place if she went inside then. Or even worse, the pain of being snubbed by James if he ignored her presence entirely.

Noticing her physical exhaustion, Bruce intended on having Jarvis get Pepper right away before he ran into James on his way to the elevator. Knowing if he left Tony alone with a disaster too long it could result in his data being lost for good, Bruce simply pointed to Anna on the balcony before making his way down to the lab. When James realized what Bruce was pointing at, that Anya was outside, alone on the balcony after being immobile for so long, he didn't waste much time getting out there. The thought of her losing her balance from the unaccustomed feeling of standing and falling over the balcony because of exhaustion had his stomach doing summersaults. A sensation that quickly turned to a sinking feeling in his gut when he realized Anya was crying. Not much, just a tear or two had escaped from her eyes, but it still alarmed him.

"Anya, what's wrong? Are you okay?" James asked worriedly, scanning her body for any kind of injury as he approached her. His reaction only seemed to increase the rate at which her tears were falling.

"No, I'm not okay," Anna whispered, keeping her gaze out on the city. She hadn't meant for the tears to escape, lost in her thoughts of what could have happened if they hadn't come to New York which quickly turned to Anna examining the better moments James and her had shared. The stark contrast of where they had been to where they were now had been heartbreaking. Comparison made worse when James decided to join her on the balcony. She should have figured her luck would go as such, seeing as how horribly it had been.

"What happened to us?" Anna pressed on, not even noticing that James had been asking more on a physical level than an emotional one. "Because from what I remember, something has changed. You're never around, not that I resent you for hanging with the others. It's actually nice to see you interacting and trusting people. But I can't help feeling like you're avoiding me. Is it because of what I said after surgery?" Anna paused briefly, moving her eyes down to her hands before forcing herself to look James in the eyes.

"Because you don't' have to say it back. You don't even have to feel it back. It was stupid of me to say, and believe me I would take it back if it meant we went back to how it was," Anna choked out the rest as the tears increased until James was just a blurry blob. It was hard to say that last part, as she hated to think her feelings and her confession of them were what pushed him away. She didn't want to be alone in the way she felt, but she couldn't help but think that she was.

James was speechless for a moment after Anya's confession. She had just proven Steve right, Anya didn't know how James felt about her. Which was stupid. She should know that she was the most important person to him. That he'd be far worse off without her in his life. And yet, her confession, and the emotional state she was in, most definitely proved that she was completely oblivious to those facts. It baffled him, really. How she could think she meant so little to him; he who had no one before her.

"Anya, I was trying to help you heal in peace," James finally forced out, after getting past his initial shock. "I swear to you, that was the only reason I was keeping my distance and distracting myself. And I most definitely don't want you to take it back." How she could not know how difficult it was for him to give her space was beyond him. He'd do anything to be with her.

"So, you're not interested in Natasha?" Anna forced the question out, covering the burning of her cheeks by wiping the tears from them. It sounded so pathetic when she asked it aloud.

"Natasha is a friend. Like Steve is for you," James insisted, resisting the urge to smile at the thought of Anya being jealous of Natasha. Natasha had nothing on Anya. At her look of slight disbelief, James took a step closer, reaching out to wipe the last stray tears from Anya's cheeks. Leaning his forehead against hers, he whispered the same words in Russian that he'd been telling her for weeks in her sleep.

"You are my home, and my hope. I love you," He translated, his eyes boring into hers and his warm breath brushing softly against her lips as he did.

* * *

 _A/N: There you have it, chapter 10. Hope it was worth the wait and everything you guys hoped for! I'm looking forward to things I have planned for Janya from here on out :) Let me know what ya thought!_

 _Guest review responses!_

 _Jo: so happy you enjoyed the last chapter! Hope ya liked this one as much :)_

 _To the guest who was crying because it was painful yet beautiful: exactly what I was going for. I am slightly happy I could evoke such strong emotions from you that you cried._

 _To the Omioid: thank you! I'm working very hard on it. I'm glad you liked the little Steve/OC preview and that you're interested in a Brock/OC fic. I like you're idea of the brock branch off, it would be interesting and I'd never thought of doing it that way before now. Thanks for leaving a review and letting me know you're enjoying the story1_

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	11. Chapter 11

" _I will never stop trying. I will never stop watching as you leave. I will never stop losing my breath, everytime I see you looking back at me. And I will never stop holding your hand, I will never stop opening your door. I will never stop choosing you babe. I will never get used to you." Safetysuit Never Stop Wedding Version_

* * *

"I'm going back to DC after tonight," Anna admitted as she laid across James' bed, avoiding the preparation process for that night. She had James' right hand between hers, fiddling with his fingers as she spoke, a little nervous about his reaction to her announcement. "And I want you to come with me."

Anna had made the decision weeks ago, to go back to DC, she just hadn't verbalized it to anyone yet. Partly because she knew the reaction it would garner. The shock on James' face was proof enough. Not only was he not expecting it, but he didn't think it was a good idea.

"What about Tony?" James finally found his words after that figurative bomb Anya had just thrown landed in his lap. There were many more obstacles and reasons for them not to leave, but Tony was one of the biggest and he was the first one that popped into James' mind. Even if James wanted to leave, there was no way of doing so without Tony going ballistic.

"He'll let me go," Anya responded firmly, assuredly. "He owes me this after all the crap he's pulled." It was true, Anya did have a lot of ammo against Tony at the moment, enough to force him to relent and accept that Anya had the right to leave if she wanted. It's what pushed him towards voicing his reason for not wanting to leave.

"What about Hydra, and Rumlow?" He was so close to finding Rumlow, so close to the beginning of his revenge. Leaving New York would take him further from that goal, and further away from the group of people who were just as desperate to take Hydra down.

"I'm not asking you to stop searching for them." Anna knew how important it was for James to get closure. And she also knew that closure could only come from enacting havoc and pain on the organization that had controlled and ruined his life for the past 70 years. She would never ask him to abandon that. "But can't you do that from DC?"

"New York holds the key. He's here, I know it. I just haven't found him yet," James insisted, feeling the truth in his words even if he had no proof. Rumlow was staying in the city, for whatever reason, and if James wanted to find him, he needed to stay as well. He might be able to locate him from DC, but he wouldn't be able to enact his revenge from there.

"Alright, then we'll get our own place here, in the city. I'll call in some favors so I can work at one of the VA hospitals here." Anna wouldn't mind staying in New York for James, as long as they left the Tower. Although Tony's overprotectiveness had been reined in significantly, he'd still forged her signature and drugged her in order to get her surgery she hadn't consented to. In the end, Anna could understand why he'd done it, but it was still a violation of her rights and independence as well as her free will. Tony would always act in ways he saw fit to keep her safe and that he believed was in her best interests, even if Anna didn't agree. Which was why Anna didn't want to move her permanent residence to the Tower. Here, she was stuck within these four walls unless she snuck out or Tony deemed it safe for her to leave. Not only that, but Anna was tired of just sitting around doing nothing, she wanted to go back to work, to be a doctor again. She wanted to start a life with James. If that meant moving to New York, Ann would do that.

"No. Leaving you alone in this city is not an option. With Rumlow and possibly Hydra here, it wouldn't be safe." The idea of leaving Anna alone in the city left a heavy, uneasy feeling in James' gut. The only completely safe place in New York City for Anna was the Tower. Where there were people who cared about her and who could protect her, and where there was Tony's state of the art security system.

"I'm not letting them dictate my life. I refuse to live my life in fear of being taken again. That means letting them win. And I am most certainly not spending the rest of my life in this Tower. I love Tony, but I can't live with him anymore. Not after five years of living on my own." Anna needed to work again, as a doctor, in order to start rebuilding her life and to add some sense of normalcy to it. Staying in Stark Tower for the remainder of her years was not how she'd ever intended on living her life.

"What if we go somewhere else, somewhere new, somewhere Hydra won't expect? Somewhere close enough to the city that I could continue looking, but far enough you would be safe, even when working." DC held too many horrible memories of Hydra closing in on them, and of what he'd done to help them. It was also probably the first place they would expect Anna to go. Her whole life had been there, minus her brother. And New York City left her two vulnerable to an attack, as Hydra and Rumlow were already there. A new place could offer them a new start, to live their life free of Hydra and the past.

"Are you compromising?" Anna asked in slight surprise. Growing up with Tony pretty much meant no compromises. One or the other of them would win. It's hard to expect anything else from others when one is used to a certain way of ending disagreements.

"Are you agreeing to my compromise?" James asked, unsure really of how compromises usually worked. Hydra never offered compromises, it was their way or no way.

"On one condition," Anna answered after a moment of thinking it over. "You have to come home regularly. I want physical proof that you are alright. And at the very least a phone call if you're going to be late." They'd already proved they don't do well when they don't know the other is alright. It was in both of their best interests.

"Deal." James answered with a slight smile, reaching down to kiss Anya on her cheek. It wasn't really a sacrifice, coming back home to Anya. It was quite the opposite actually, and as soon as he'd taken care of Rumlow at the very least, he'd come back to her for good. "Now didn't you promise Pepper you'd get ready together?" James knew Anya had been putting it off, for some reason she wasn't very excited about tonight. James couldn't blame her, as he wasn't very excited about having to dress up and be around people he didn't know. However, he was looking forward to seeing Anya in a dress.

…

Pepper had taken care of Anna's wardrobe for the evening for her, down to the shoes and mask. The dress hung on a hook next to Pepper's when Anna entered Pepper and Tony's room, and though Anna wasn't particularly looking forward to the charity event, she had to admit it was a beautiful dress: deep red in color with a diamond brooch on the belt that matched the diamond studded collar and sleeves. It had to have cost a fortune.

With Pepper finishing up the pre-dress and makeup routine in the bathroom, Anna moved towards the wall of windows. Pulling out the phone Tony had gotten to replace her lost one, Anna asked Jarvis to retrieve Emily's number for her. It rang four times before she answered. She probably hadn't heard the phone in rehearsal: typical Emily.

"Before you say no, just hear me out," Anna blurted as soon as she heard the click of Emily picking up. She'd already left two messages, so she figured Emily knew what she was calling about. She just hadn't responded yet because she didn't know a good way to decline politely. "It's only one night, and I haven't seen you in ages. I know you have a dress, your closet is full of them. I won't be in town for much longer, and I want you to meet him. James. You're my best friend, one of my only friends, and I hear it's customary for you to meet the guy I love."

Guilt tripping Emily almost always worked. Especially when mentioning anything dealing with sentimentality and tradition. She was raised in the South, by her mother who was the epitome of a southern belle. Meaning Emily was raised to respect things like tradition. She was also raised Catholic, which also helped with the whole guilt trip succeeding. She'd had guilt used against her, her whole life.

"Can't I meet James some other time? You know parties aren't my thing. Especially not your brother's parties. Besides you, I won't know anybody." Emily was trying to resist the urge to cave and be a good friend.

"You know Steve and Sam," Anna pointed out, recalling the visit from Steve she'd gotten after surgery, claiming that Emily, her blonde friend with the southern accent, had insisted she call her once she was back and safe. Of course, Steve didn't escape without telling the whole story of what the heck he was referring to. Emily received her demanded phone call shortly afterwards.

"Another reason not to come. I'm trying to avoid humiliating myself any more than I did the last time I saw them." Honestly, the whole night had been humiliating and terrifying all wrapped up in one. She had to have seemed like a babbling idiot fumbling for her words. Not to mention letting Steven's full name slip out, making her seem like a complete stalker. Which Emily blamed her grandfather for. If it wasn't for his war stories, Emily wouldn't have spoken to Captain America like she knew him personally. It was all just a huge, embarrassing mess.

"You were going to die. Anything embarrassing you did or said are excusable. Besides, neither will notice you with a mask. The beauty of a masquerade." Anna wanted to tell her that Steve wouldn't think bad about her for it, that it took something like trying to suppress humanity's freedom to have him think bad of anyone, but she refrained. It wasn't anything that would make Emily feel any better.

"What time is it, again?" Emily finally sighed into the phone, giving in to Anna.

"Seven sharp. Thanks Em!" Anna exclaimed, a little excited about tonight now that it meant she'd get to see Emily again. They'd been planning to get together for weeks now, but the whole recovering from surgery bit took longer than Anna had anticipated. Having Emily there would mean one more excuse not to socialize with the other people Tony had invited. The crowds that normally attended Tony's events tended to be a bit on the snooty side.

"So what's this about you not being in town for much longer?" Pepper sounded from behind Anna after she hung up, startling her. Apparently she'd been out of the shower for a while. After a couple seconds Anna turned to face her, a hesitant look on her face. She wasn't sure how Pepper would take the news.

"James and I are leaving the Tower after tonight. I just need some space, and honestly we could use some time alone." Anna admitted, not expecting the small smile that lit up Pepper's face.

"I was wondering how long it would take you to get sick of Tony. Have you thought about how you're breaking the news to him? Because we both know he's not going to take it as well." Releasing a sigh of relief, Anna shrugged her shoulders. She only knew she was going to do it at the party. Although Tony wasn't one to curb his reactions when in public, he would tonight if he didn't want the doctor to know he'd operated on Anna without her consent. Seeing as the whole event was in honor of the doctor's charity research, it wouldn't be hard for Anna to follow through on her threat. As empty as it might be.

"How about we just start with how you're going to do my hair, and worry about my brother later," Anna suggested, knowing that would take Pepper's mind off of Tony's inevitably bad reaction to her news. Pepper loved playing with Anna's hair.

…

James had spent time over the past week in Tony's lab, using metal from one of the panel's from his arm that Tony had had to remove and replace during their time searching for Anya, to make his gift. Tony had surprisingly given him free reign of the lab and his materials, after slugging him one good one in the face with the iron man arm that he'd been working with, on: for his parents. As long as James didn't mess up his chaotic filing system or break anything, James could do what he pleased with Bruce there to supervise. It took several attempts to laser the metal just right, but James finally got an end result that didn't completely suck. He tucked that end product into his jacket pocket after Steve helped him with his bow tie: his metal fingers had had some difficulty keeping hold of the slick material.

"You don't look half bad when you clean up, Buck," Steve commented with a smile as he stepped away to do his own tie. "Though the mask definitely helps with that."

"Think Anya will mind I only trimmed, instead of shaving it completely?" James asked as he ran his hand over his jaw. Even he had had to admit his beard had gotten a little too long and ragged, but he couldn't bring himself to shave it completely. He was second guessing that decision after seeing how clean cut Steve looked in his penguin suit.

"No, I don't think she'll mind," Steve assured him more seriously, sensing the insecurity in his voice. This was probably the first time in forever he was actually dressing up and he probably felt even more uncomfortable than Anna did when she had to dress up.

"How long until we leave?" James asked as he let his hand drop from his face. He was starting to get anxious about tonight, both in a good and bad way. When he found out they had at least another half hour to wait for the car, he suggested they go outside, even if it was just to the balcony. Fresh air might help him feel not so trapped and suffocated in the suit.

Steve was in the middle of reassuring Bucky that the food at these things was usually pretty good when Anna joined them outside. The look on Bucky's face made it clear that he didn't give a damn if the food was complete crap. Tonight would be completely worth it just because he got to see Anna in that dress. Hiding a slight smile, Steve slipped off the balcony to give the two some semblance of privacy, joining the others waiting in the main room.

"Where's Anna?" Tony asked sounding slightly exasperated. The car had already been waiting for ten minutes, and though he normally liked to make an entrance, he didn't want to chance upsetting the doctor he'd tricked into cutting into his sister.

"On the balcony with Bucky," Steve replied, turning back towards the wall of windows looking out onto the balcony. There was just enough sunlight left to see Bucky reaching into his pocket for something.

"Oh god, please don't let it be a ring," Tony muttered, knowing that Tin Man had been working on something special for Anna in his lab. It hadn't occurred to him until that moment, when the setting before him looked like a romantic movie proposal, that it might be a ring.

…

"You look stunning," James complimented Anya as he took in the image of her in that dress. The deep red color suited her skin tone, and the dress accentuated her waist, going in at the middle before flowing out. Anya was always beautiful, but tonight her beauty shone a little brighter. Her hair was loosely curled, half of it pulled away from her face, which was done up in the slightest of makeup. She truly was stunning.

"So do you," Anna replied with a slight blush. James in a tux was incredibly sexy. Anna had never been one to understand other girls' infatuation with men in suits, but she understood now. There was something debonair and classy about seeing James in a tux. Maybe it was also because he still had some stubble and his long hair: familiar yet foreign. The mixture of the two had her heartrate accelerating.

"I, uh, made something for you," James finally shook himself out of his daze, reaching into his jacket pocket for the tiny item that had taken him a good week to make. His nerves were on edge as he slipped it into Anya's hands, afraid she might not like it. "It's nothing big, just something to remind you of me."

Not expecting anything, Anna found her heart speeding up even more in excitement when James slipped his gift into her hand. It was cold and small, probably metallic. Her interest was definitely piqued. Slowly she opened her hand to reveal a small metal star, about the thickness of a quarter, on a chain. He'd given her a necklace. Normally Anna didn't fawn over jewelry, but this little star was too perfect not too. It wasn't gaudy, or decked out with bling. Instead it was small, simple, and unique.

"It's perfect. I love it, honestly," Anna smiled, glancing up at James. He returned her smile, though his had a touch of nervousness to it. Had he not expected her to like it? "Will you help me put it on?" Anna asked, holding the chain out for him to take.

With slightly shaking hands, James took the chain between his fingers as Anya turned her back to him to allow him easier access. In truth, he was relieved that she wanted to wear it, proving that she did indeed like it. It had been a constant nagging worry of his since he'd started constructing it. Brushing her hair to the side, James slipped the chain around Anya's neck, only fumbling a little with the clasp before hooking it. The chain rested just below the shiny red scar that had taken her weeks to recover from. Before she could turn around, James pressed his lips against the mark, causing the hair on the back of Anya's neck to raise.

"You, um, said you made this," Anna stuttered as she dragged her thumb over the metal star. It was an attempt to distract her from the hum of the nerves in her body that came alive as soon as she felt James' lips against her neck.

"Yes, I did. From one of the panels from my arm that Tony had to replace. When I was looking for you, one got popped loose and dented by a Hydra agent." James responded softly as he turned Anya to face him by her shoulders. He knew she wouldn't face him again on her own accord, not when she was embarrassed about something. And for some reason, she was embarrassed. "Are you alright? You don't have to accept it if you don't like it. I can make, or even buy you something else." Although James wasn't sure where he'd get the money to buy her a replacement present, he'd think of something. If this one didn't please Anya, he'd keep trying until something did.

"No, it's mine and you're not taking it back," Anna insisted, defensively placing her left hand over it while reaching up her right one to rest against James' cheek. "I love that you made it. That it's made from a plate from your arm. It's like carrying a piece of you with me always. I love it." Anna reiterated, her eyes boring into James to ensure he understood that she did, indeed, like his present. It must have worked, because the next thing she knew, she was wrapped up in his arms with his lips moving with hers. They hadn't shared a kiss like that since she accidently confessed her feelings for him. So regardless of the fact that they were probably holding up the others, Anna wrapped her arms around James' neck and pulled him closer.

* * *

 _A/N well it's been a week, so yay for me for not making you wait longer than a week like the last two times. I am sooo looking forward to when my tests are over and I have a regular, set in stone schedule and all I have to do in my spare time is have fun and write instead of study. You get a little more Emily in here, and she'll make an appearance in the next chapter as well. Hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you think about it, and the gift that James gave Anya!_

 _Guest review responses:_

 _A blank space: I'm taking that review to mean you're loving the last Janya moments in the previous chapter. Glad you did!_

 _To the guest who has read, re-read, and re-reread Rehabilitate and this story in the past few months: thank you I'm glad you love the story enough to reread it. And that you think it gets better each time you read it, as most times I find when rereading stuff I though was awesome at first and it dwindles each time I reread it. Glad that's not happening here!_

 _To jo: So glad you think the last chapter was as good as ever._

 _To the guest who quoted the part about James murmuring in Russian to Anya: I'm so glad you quoted that part and that you liked it so much to quote it. Sorry to make you cry, but it's nice to know the moment moved you!_

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	12. Chapter 12

There were cameras waiting when the car pulled up in front of the party. Noticing James' hesitant glance at the flashes, Anna took hold of his hand, both of which were clad in a black leather formal glove. The reassuring touch would probably have been more reassuring if he could feel the warmth of her skin, but the gloves were necessary to keep people from staring too much and asking uncomfortable questions.

"This was a bad idea," James whispered ominously as he stared down the cameras now pressed against the car's windows.

"If you hang toward the back and let Tony go in first, they don't notice you as much," Anna murmured encouragingly, speaking from years of experience. Tony loved the press, and the press loved him. Keep the right amount of distance from him, and the cameras never paid you any mind.

"Are they allowed into the party?" James questioned softly as they slid down towards the door, not liking the idea that the hoard of flashing lights would follow them into the party.

"Tony always lets a select few in, the top bidders, but not as many as you see now. Besides, they'll mostly shoot photos of Tony and Dr. Carlson," Anna responded before stepping out of the car. A few flashes went off, but they quickly returned their attention to Tony. Anna had never been the interesting Stark to the press: she never did anything scandalous.

"I'm not worried about them shooting a picture." James didn't trust crowds. It was too easy for an enemy to get close in crowds. Especially when the crowd consisted of bright lights going off and altering his vision and perception. It had James turning to Anya and insisting she stay between Steve and him until they got inside. He didn't want to take any chances, and he knew better than to underestimate Hydra and Rumlow. If they wanted to get to Anya, this event would be the prime opportunity. If he'd realized how big of a deal this 'small event' Tony had planned was, he'd insisted they stay back at the Tower.

Anna had hoped James would start to relax once they'd gotten inside, away from the open crowd, but he never lost the tense set to his shoulder, even after they'd made it past the intense security checkpoint. Something that she'd figured would ease his worries.

"James everything is going to be fine, just try to relax and have fun tonight," Anna insisted as they made their way into the ballroom. She knew this wasn't anything close to a scene where he'd feel comfortable, Anna was never the biggest fan of Tony's charity events either, but it was their first chance at doing something together that didn't involve Hydra or fighting to save the other's life. They should take advantage of that. "Security is tight. No guns or weapons of any kind are getting in here."

"I wouldn't bet on that," James murmured with a sideways glance at her. The guards hadn't noticed the two knives and small handgun he'd stored away. If he could sneak weapons in, Hydra could. His response took Anya off guard for a moment before his meaning hit her and she sent him a shocked, slightly aghast look.

"How? Why?" Anna asked, her eyes glancing over James' body as she tried to comprehend how he'd gotten through the security check with weapons, and what weapons he actually could sneak in.

"Hydra put a lot of effort and resources into getting you. They needed you, and whatever they had you working on, they wouldn't want you telling anyone. Especially not the Avengers." Silence was something Hydra killed for. He'd done it for them before. Those that knew too much, were eliminated. Many innocents who had simply been at the wrong place, at the wrong time, had died in order to preserve Hydra's secrets.

"I don't even remember what they wouldn't want me to tell. Not since the chip got removed." It'd been harder than Anna would admit: dealing with two sets of memories, sifting through them to find the truth. It caused many nights full of stressful dreams. Certain memories were taking longer to come back to the surface, including many of the ones at the Hydra facility where she was kept. In truth, Anna was a bit afraid to delve into those memories, afraid of what she might have done.

"That doesn't matter to them," James insisted, knowing just the possibility that Anya could remember put her on Hydra's hit list. "And it's not just Hydra I'm worried about."

"Rumlow," Anna filled in the blank. It didn't escape her notice that James' eyes darkened at the mention of the name. "He's working solo now. Not much of a threat." Anna had seen the extent of Rumlow's burns. Without Hydra's deep pockets, he wouldn't have others to do his bidding, and with his injuries he wasn't exactly up to whatever James thought he needed to bring weapons for.

"If anything, that makes him more dangerous. No red tape he has to work around," James insisted, his eyes sweeping across the room, ensuring no one was attempting to try something while they were distracted. "He's crazy and desperate enough to try something in public, and without Hydra he won't care about making a scene anymore." Hydra liked to keep their presence hushed, it was how they had survived so long: living like snakes underground until opportunity struck. James wasn't sure Rumlow much cared about saving face.

"And you? You don't care about making a scene?" Anna asked, all the while knowing the answer. James wouldn't bring weapons here if he never intended to use them. Of course, if he didn't have to, he wouldn't. But if he found Hydra hiding among the masks, he wouldn't hesitate to use what he'd brought. Whatever that was. "You can't seriously consider using weapons in here. It would ensue chaos. This is a fundraiser."

"I will use whatever means necessary to keep you safe," James retorted offhandedly, finishing his sweep around the room. As of yet, no adversaries stood out to him. Still, it would be better if they didn't stand in one spot for too long. It made them easier targets. "Even dancing," James added as he reached for Anya's hand, quickly drawing her out onto the dance floor before she could protest. Fumbling a little on her feet, Anya blushed as James caught her right hand in his and he placed his other hand on her waist.

"I'm not really a dancer," Anna added in defense of her klutziness, immediately looking down at their feet. If she was going to survive this with her dignity somewhat intact, she was going to need to pay attention to where she stepped.

"You don't have to be. You just have to have someone who knows how to lead." Releasing his hold on her hand for a moment, James tucked his hand beneath her chin, moving her gaze up to his. "It's more fun when you can see your partner's eyes."

"So you remember how to dance," Anna finally responded after ensuring she could indeed follow James' lead. He was right, when your partner knew how to dance, you don't even have to think about the moves. Just trust him and follow his lead.

"A little. It's coming back to me," James murmured, pulling Anya a little closer as they moved in time with the music. He found he enjoyed another excuse to be close to Anya, and the excuse to study here up close. So caught up in Anya, he actually forgot about the world and its dangers. Until a loud pop echoed across the hall, throwing him back into reality as his hand reached to the inside seam of his jacket and wrapped around one of his knives. Before he could pull it out, Anya was pulling his hand back to her waist, the other moving up to his face.

"James, it was only champagne being opened. Everything is fine," Anna whispered calmly, rubbing soothing circles against his cheek until his eyes stopped sweeping the room for any threat, and landed back on her.

"Nothing will truly be fine, until I take down Rumlow and Hydra," James replied as he continued the dance where they left off. He knew he could never rest until those threats were eliminated. Until he got his revenge. Until they felt his pain. Until they couldn't hurt Anya and him, again.

"And what do you want to do after you get Rumlow and Hydra?" Anna asked, trying to adjust the mood to a happier one. Thinking of a future where Hydra didn't exist sounded like a good way to lift her own mood.

"I don't know. I've never thought about it," James admitted. He'd never thought past the part where he set himself free from Hydra forever. Maybe because he was a little afraid of what such a future could hold for him. He wasn't molded to fit into society, only in its shadows. Somehow, it was hard to imagine leaving those shadows.

"Think about it now. What do you like to do?" Anna prodded, curious to know how James pictured his life and future. Figuring it would help him feel more secure, not knowing it was doing the exact opposite.

"I only know what I'm good at: tracking down a target, shooting, and hand to hand combat." For years that was all he did. It was his life as far as he could remember it. How was he supposed to build a new life when the only way he knew to live was through violence?

The creasing of James' brow was what clued Anna in that his thoughts were anything but positive at the moment. Her bet was that he was second guessing who he was. His identity had been stripped away from him for so many years, his hesitance to think about who he would become now that, that part of his life was over, was understandable.

"You're also good at protecting people," Anna reminded him, referring to all the times he'd protected her. Her comment was rewarded with a small smile.

"Only when I like them," James responded, staring pointedly into her eyes. His smile widened when Anya blushed in response. He'd never get tired of provoking that response from her.

"Then only pick up cases you want. Bounty hunter, Private investigator, hit man, search and rescue: they all allow you to utilize your skills and select your clientele." There were plenty of options open. Out of all of them, Anna was confident James could find something he'd like to do.

"I think Steve's expecting me to join the Avengers." That didn't surprise Anna. Steve and James had always done things together in the past, and now that they've started to slowly rebuild their friendship, Steve's expectations were that they would still do things together.

"It's an option. But no one, especially not Steve, would blame you if you want to explore and find the best option for you." Steve only wanted James to be happy. It's the first code of best friends.

"For us," James corrected, tightening his grip on Anya. Both responses had Anya smiling up at him, a blush creeping across her cheeks. Until her phone drew her attention away. Reaching into the pockets he didn't know her dress possessed, Anna pulled out her new phone only to smile at whatever was written across the screen.

"Sorry," Anna murmured, slipping the phone back into the pocket it had come from. "There's just someone I want you to meet." Slipping her hand back into his, Anna led James across the floor towards the crowd mingling on the sidelines.

James followed, silent and confused until they stopped before a blonde girl who threw her arms around Anya as soon as she was close enough. He couldn't understand every word the girl was saying, but he caught enough to know that it was something along the lines of being happy Anya was alive.

"James, this is Emily. She is, essentially, my Steve." Anya introduced him once the blonde had released her from the embrace. Holding out his hand, he noticed the blonde hesitating slightly before accepting it.

"So, where did you two meet?" Emily asked, figuring she should try for Anna's sake. In all honesty, Emily stopped trusting Anna's taste in men ever since Brent. She wasn't going to trust this James until he proved he could be trusted.

"Um…" Anna stumbled. She'd never been good when it came to lying to Emily. She should have rehearsed answers to questions like that. Emily was bound to ask them. "We were both held hostage by Hydra." Anna settled on the truth. It wasn't as if Emily wasn't aware that Hydra existed. Not only did one of their many members try to kill her, but the news hadn't really shut up about Hydra or SHIELD since DC.

"At least he wasn't one of them," Emily commented offhandedly, causing Anna to internally wince. Technically, both what she had said and what Emily had said were true. James was a part of Hydra, doing their bidding, but it was because they wiped his memories and stripped him down to nothing but a soldier. He was a hostage used as an assassin.

After a few minutes of awkward questions, James excused himself to go and find Steve. The blonde made him feel uncomfortable, like she was interrogating him. Her eyes showed she didn't trust him, which he sort of understood once Anna explained they'd been roommates at NYU her freshman year. The year she'd met Brent.

"So, what do you think?" Anna asked once James had joined Steve across the dance floor.

"Honestly, he's a little intimidating. Like he would have no trouble shooting me point blank if I crossed him," Emily admitted, not knowing how spot on that interpretation might be. "But it's clear to see he cares about you. A lot."

"It is?" Anna asked, confused as to how Emily could come to that conclusion after talking with him for five minutes tops.

"It's in the way he held you while dancing, the way he looks at you. And how he's still looking at you from across the room." Emily commented making Anna turn around to find that James was indeed staring in their direction.

"I'm actually a little surprised he didn't stick closer," Anna added without thinking, wishing she hadn't when she saw the concerned look Emily shot her. "Ever since we escaped from Hydra, he's been a little freaked they'll try something to retaliate."

"You aren't?" Obviously Hydra meant business. And they didn't seem to take kindly to anyone who stood in their way to whatever their goal was. From what Anna was saying, it seemed she was the one standing in their way now. Her and James.

"I doubt I'm as high a priority on their list as he seems to think." Anna was only a gnat to Hydra. Annoying, but nothing to worry about, nothing dangerous.

"Well they sure pulled out a lot of fire in order to keep you," Emily retorted thinking about the false invite she received. Anna was important enough for that.

"I think that plan was more to take down the Avengers. Which I'm not a part of." Emily fixed her with a look that clearly showed she wasn't buying the excuses. "What, is it so wrong for me to want things to go back to some semblance of normalcy?"

"Your life has never been destined for normal. You're the daughter of a billionaire who helped found SHIELD." Though Anna had never flaunted her money, there was no denying there were certain aspects of life those born into money never had to deal with.

"Says the granddaughter of a Howling Commando." Emily might not have grown up wealthy, but her family history was just as rich as Anna's was.

"Point taken," Emily laughed. They certainly were a pair. "I'm really glad you're alright Anna."

"Me too. And we should stay in touch more. It's been so long, I forgot how much I miss hanging with you. Or anyone outside of the hospital that is." Emily was never a social butterfly, but that's why Anna and her had gotten along so well. They made their own fun staying in and having movie marathons, or binge watching favorite TV shows. Things that weren't as fun to do on your own.

"You love your job, that's a good thing. In fact, I can't believe you didn't rush back to it as soon as you were free." It was definitely something pre-abducted Anna would do. If she was being really honest with herself, it was something pre-James Anna would do. Work had been everything to Anna. Of course, it was still important to her. But so was James. And going back to the VA hospital to work now would mean one of two things: forcing James to give up a long brewing revenge, or giving up James. Anna couldn't do either. It was all about compromise.

"It's complicated." Way more complicated than Emily needed to know. So Anna focused on the part easiest to explain. "Tony wants me to stay in the tower with him, but I just can't anymore. I'm putting my foot down tonight, letting him know I'm leaving the tower whether he likes it or not. As soon as I pluck up the nerve and go looking for him in this crowd."

"Shouldn't be that hard." Tony sounded from behind her. Wincing, Anna made a face that was clearly begging for Emily's help. "You're not leaving the tower until I feel it's safe."

"You're never going to feel like it's safe," Anna countered, turning to face Tony on her own when Emily just raised her hands in surrender. She never was one to get between a Tony and Anna fight until she knew exactly what the fight was really about.

"Guess you're not leaving then," Tony replied, taking a long swig from the glass of scotch in his hand.

"Why don't you pick out a safe place that you're comfortable with her living in? Compromise." Emily cut in, when she noticed the growing frustration on Anna's face, playing mediator.

"Didn't work out too hot for me last time," Tony responded. The last time he'd tried to set Anna up in a safe place to live, she didn't actually live there. She went behind his back and got an apartment in God only knew what part of DC. Lesson learned.

"I'm leaving Tony. End of discussion. Unless you want me to make it public knowledge to the doctor and whatever camera crew is still waiting outside how I didn't sign those papers for surgery." She was completely bluffing, she wouldn't do that to Tony, but she needed to make him believe she would. Or else she'd spend her whole life in Stark Tower, even die there as a cat lady at the age of 93.

"I can't believe you're blackmailing me." Tony stared aghast at her. "I must admit, if it was anyone else, I'd be proud. But I stand by my first statement: I can't believe you're blackmailing me."

"Because you won't be reasonable about this." If Tony would just take a step back, and realize she wasn't a dependent he needed to take care of anymore, none of this would be necessary.

"You were kidnapped by Hydra. It took us weeks to find you and that was basically because of luck. I reserve the right to be protective." If he let her go, and Hydra took her again, Tony wouldn't be able to live with himself. Anna was the only family he had left, and he wasn't going to let Hydra take another family member from him.

"I can't have this argument again," Anna sighed, noticing they were straying into old territory with the whole protectiveness bit. "I need a drink."

…

"What's your position unit 1?" Rollins voice sounded through Griffin's ear piece, breaking up the sound of clinking glasses and music.

"Target A remains alert and at unease. Haven't been able to get close without drawing suspicion," Griffin responded before taking another sip from his champagne glass. Technically, he wasn't supposed to drink on the job. But when going undercover, you needed to blend in. Besides, Stark only served the good stuff. No way was Griffin missing out on a Class A champagne imported from France.

"Unit 2?" Rollins moved on, hoping to have more luck with his second team.

"Target B is oblivious and just made a move towards the bar," Haynes reported dutifully. Like Griffin, he hadn't been able to get close to his target. Partly because their two targets had been glued at the hip for the first hour.

"Kellogg will take care of target B. Help unit 1 with target A. And remember this is a kill, not capture. But don't risk exposure. Do it quickly and quietly, under the radar. Smoke them out then take them down. I have unit 3 standing by if needed." After all that Rumlow had let slip through the cracks under his control, Rollins was tasked with the job of cleaning it up. Meaning he needed to get rid of the Asset and Stark. They knew too much, and were now considered a threat to the survival of the organization. There would be no more hostages.

…

"Vodka and cranberry, please," Anna gave her order as she leaned heavily against the bar. It might be the generic girly drink, but Anna wasn't knowledgeable in the vast array of alcoholic beverages. So she ordered something she knew wouldn't make her gag. A love of alcohol was not something she had inherited, unlike Tony.

Emily simply shook her head when the bartender turned for her order. She'd only followed Anna in support of her friend, and to make sure Anna was okay. Emily didn't understand everything said in the conversation between Tony and Anna, but it had seemed like Anna's surgery hadn't been completely voluntary. Something that Anna had neglected to mention when she'd called earlier in the week.

"Are you sure everything's okay Anna?" Emily was starting to freak out a little for Anna. Hydra seemed bad, really bad. Worse than the mob movies they used to watch. And according to Tony, they were set on silencing Anna. Silencing usually meant killing with organizations like the mob and Hydra.

"Honestly? No." Anna admitted with a sigh. "But it will be."

Turning to watch the bartender mixing her drink, Anna noticed two things out of place. The first was the bottom half of an arm tattoo that struck her memory as vaguely familiar, though she couldn't pinpoint why. She might have let it go, ignored it as a trick of the memory, had it not been for the second thing: a handgun strapped to the belt of the bartender's pants.

It would have been invisible had his uniformed jacket not risen up a few inches while mixing. The two together had Anna's memory thrown back a mere few weeks ago, back to her captivity at Hydra before the memory modifications. One of her many escorts to the bathroom after her failed escape attempt had the hydra symbol tattooed in muted colors of red, orange, and black, on his forearm, half visible with his rolled up sleeves.

Hydra was here.

"Emily, could you find Pepper for me," Anna tried hard not to stutter as she turned back to her friend. "Maybe she could help me on the whole Tony situation." It took a minute for Emily to respond, and Anna was starting to worry Emily would call her bluff in front of the bartender/possible Hydra assassin. Thankfully Emily either bought it, or though Anna just wanted to be alone to stew. Either way it got Emily to move away from the Hydra agent behind the bar.

Trying to seem semi-normal and not show how much she was freaking out, Anna took the drink once the bartender placed it in front of her. Feeling as if she was wearing her nerves on her sleeves, Anna made her way to James as fast as she could with hopes of not drawing attention. It was best if Hydra didn't know she knew they were here. At least not until she could get to James.

"We have a problem," Anna whispered once she came to stand beside James. Pausing as a waiter passed by, depositing her untouched drink on his tray and waiting until he was out of earshot, Anna stood on tip toes to get closer to James ear. "Hydra is here."

James whole body stiffened at Anya's words, his eyes scanning the room as he immediately went into analyzation mode: locating the exits and the barriers they would meet to narrow down the fastest and safest means of escape. It didn't help that all entrances were covered by security guards. Then again, there were only four per entrance. James could take them down if any of them turned out to be Hydra.

"We have to leave, now," James insisted, his arm moving to Anya's lower back as he started to lead her through the crowd towards the closest door. That was, until Anya dug in her heals, turning to face James with a determined glint in her eyes.

"I can't leave my friends and my brother in danger." Who knew how many Hydra agents were lurking around there. Leaving people she cared about in the middle of a possible Hydra infestation was not an option. She'd already lost her parents because of Hydra, she wouldn't lose anyone else she cared about.

"Hydra's not after them, they're after us. I need to get you out of here." James urged, his eyes imploring her before moving to scan the area around them. Hydra didn't seem to be moving in, thus far. However they were sitting ducks in their current location. He needed to get Anya somewhere safe. "Staying here would be putting the people you care about in even more danger. They could be caught in the crossfire."

With that very valid point laid out there, Anna gave in and let James lead her towards the front entrance. After deliberation, James had decided it was their best bet to get out as quickly and quietly as possible, seeing as the reporters who hadn't gotten a pass into the party were still allowed to congregate outside. Hydra wasn't one to draw attention, and attempting to kill two party-goers in front of a street full of media cameras would definitely draw attention. Of course, there was also a chance that they had infiltrated the media, but James pushed that idea to the back of his mind. The front entrance was their best chance of making it out of there, and back to the safety of Stark Tower.

"How do we know the security guards aren't Hydra?" Anna questioned once they'd made it through the throng of party goers.

"We don't," James muttered darkly, his metal hand moving to the inseam of his jacket where one of his knives were. Hopefully he wouldn't need it.

With one hand wrapped protectively around Anya's waist, and the other gripping the hilt of a knife, James led them past the guards together. By some miracle they made it outside without any altercation, though James seriously considered it when they were met by flashing cameras and rapid fire questions from the reporters outside. This time it was Anna who led the way through the mob, having more experience with this than James. There had been a whole month after Tony returned from Iraq that reporters camped outside of Stark Tower and Anna had to fight her way through them to just get inside.

It took a bit of elbowing, and a few purposely placed heels to toes, but eventually they made it to the empty side of the sidewalk. Not really sure what they were going to do from there, Anna pulled her phone from her pocket to call their driver. That was, before the sound of breaking class caused her to look up from her keypad. The sight of James busting out the window of a car to hijack it really shouldn't have surprised her. Not after she'd seen him kill people. Still, it took her a moment to realize what was happening when James forcefully helped her up into the truck they were apparently commandeering.

"Can you get Jarvis on your phone?" James asked as he took a sharp left turn, trying to confuse anyone that might be tailing them. At Anya's affirmative, he asked her to get Jarvis to open the garage door for them when they arrived. He didn't want to chance letting Anya out of the vehicle until they were inside the tower.

"Maybe we're overreacting." Anna commented, after they took yet another turn even though there were no cars behind him. She was starting to seriously doubt if the bartender actually was Hydra, until her window shattered and a bullet narrowly missed James' head.

"We're not," James responded before slamming his foot down on the accelerator. Anna let out another squeak as the sound of another shot went off, before her fingers were dialing the number for the Tower at record speed while James ordered her to keep her head down.

By the time they reached the safety of the Tower garage, Anna's side of the car had nearly twenty bullets lodged in the metal. Somehow they'd both walked away with only minor injuries. One of the bullets hit James' metal arm, no damage there. Another simply grazed Anna's side. Though when Anna finally admitted she'd been grazed—back up in his room that they basically shared—James insisted on inspecting the wound himself. So, slipping out of the designer dress that was now ruined from her blood, Anna let James inspect the damage done: which was practically none. It was a surface wound that was already clotting.

It was with relief that James rose back to his feet, after confirming Anya's wound hadn't been more serious than she claimed. The fact that they were safe, for now, was slowly starting to sink in. The part where Anya stood before him in only her undergarments sunk in shortly after that, when she took a step closer, resting her hand against the side of his face.

"Anya," James swallowed hard as his eyes moved back up to her eyes. "We just nearly escaped Hydra, confirming they're still after us. Perhaps we should think about our next move." Everything changed when Hydra came after them. It made the thought of living a semi-normal life, as good as it had sounded, pretty much not an option. Any sort of life wouldn't be an option until they got rid of Hydra.

"We're alive, together, and safe here," Anna countered, brushing her fingers along James' cheek. "Can't we stop thinking for a little bit?" Anna was tired of overthinking every step taken because it could mean the difference between life and death. At the moment, they were somewhere no one could get to them, thanks to Tony and Jarvis.

When James didn't immediately speak against her request, Anna took advantage of his silence, rising on the tips of her toes to place a soft kiss to his lips. It wasn't until she was pulling back that James moved his hands to her neck, gently stopping her retreat as he continued the kiss. It had felt too good to have her lips against his for him to let go of that sensation just yet.

…

It an hour later, with their legs tangled together and Anna's head on James' chest that it happened: the lights went out. Not a huge deal, the power going out in the city, except for when it happened to a Tower with self-sustaining energy. That made it a very big deal. Big enough it had Anna and James sitting up, one minute relaxed, the next alert.

"Jarvis?" Anna called out hesitantly, hoping against hope he would answer back and reassure her it was just Tony playing a prank or something. Unfortunately she was only met with silence. She'd never heard the Tower that silent. "It's Hydra, isn't it," Anna stated, her heart rate accelerating at the idea of Hydra infiltrating the Tower.

"It's not Hydra," James muttered, knowing that Hydra didn't want the news coverage breaking into Stark Tower would give them. Especially not with the US government Hell bent on eradicating both SHIELD and Hydra. This was someone far more desperate.

"You think this is Rumlow?" Anna half asked, half stated as she took in the dark look on James' face. At the moment, there were only two people they had to worry about: Hydra and Rumlow. "How?" Tony had high end security, and Jarvis. The tower was on its own energy grid. How could Rumlow break into that alone?

"I don't know. I only know how I would do it. And that would require ears on the inside. To know the most vulnerable time to strike." Rumlow was definitely hitting the tower at the most vulnerable: when the other Avengers were absent and security might be minimized.

"No one's more vulnerable than after sex," Rumlow's voice shouted out, muted some by the walls. He was somewhere on their floor. Anna's eyes widened at his response, as a slight blush covered her cheeks at the invasion of privacy. There was no way for Rumlow to know that. At least none that she could think of. Even if he had gained control of the security cameras, there was no sound on it and there were no cameras in any of the bedrooms.

James, on the other hand, didn't look confused at all. Instead, he was desperately pulling at the panels in his arm, knowing it had to be there. The only way Rumlow would know would be for a listening device to be on either Anya or himself. He knew for a fact it wasn't on Anya, which meant the Bastard had somehow gotten one in James' metal arm. Since it wasn't visible, it had to be under a semi-loose panel.

"What are you doing?" Anya asked as she moved to still James hand. He only waved her off, muttering something about a listening device. It was between the second and third panel of his upper arm that he felt a panel give slightly. Underneath, James pulled out a tiny metal device which Anya simply gaped at as James crushed it between his metal fingers.

"I don't need to hear you to find you," Rumlow called, as the sound of a door bursting open down the hall echoed against the walls. There were only so many rooms for him to check before he made it to theirs. They needed to move.

Apparently, that thought had already occurred to James, as he was up and throwing clothes at Anna from a bag that he always kept by the door. Unfolding them to find they were a pair of her jeans and a shirt had Anna realizing James had been keeping a bag of their clothes at the ready for a while. Something she would have analyzed further had she had the time. But with the sound of another set of doors being broken down, Anna threw on the shirt before struggling with the pants.

"James, this is your chance. You can go after him." Rumlow was just down the hall, the man James had spent the last few weeks searching for. Anna could only imagine how badly James wanted to chase after him.

"No, that's exactly what he wants: for me to leave you alone. He may not be working with Hydra, but he isn't working alone." Someone was helping Rumlow. And not knowing who else he might be up against could very easily lead to losing Anya again. He could seek his revenge another time. Right then, at that moment, getting Anya safely out of there was James' only focus.

"Then what is the plan?" With Rumlow and God only knew who inside, and Hydra somewhere outside, there didn't seem to be a lot of good options. Nor a lot of time to make a decision, if the sound of the doors to the next room over bursting open was any indication of the time they had left.

"We go dark," James murmured, throwing the bag where the clothes had come from over his shoulders.

* * *

 _A/N: hello all my lovelies. I am not dead, and I did not forget you. I'm soooooo sorry this took SOOOOOO long. I have excuses out the wazoo but you guys probably don't care about my excuses. Forgive any choppiness with this chapter, I'm going to try my best to edit it wonderfully, but I did start the beginning of this a while ago and came back to finish it now. I'm going to try to respond to all the reviews I've received in my absence, but please don't feel left out if you don't hear a response. I have a hard time remembering who I last responded to. You all are awesome and I love you and I hope you forgive me for my departure. I'm hoping the next post will make it out in much less time._ _ **I'm also thinking the next post will be an addition to the one shot 'In a way he was her first' detailing Janya's time together in the tower during this chapter**_ _that was purposefully left out for those who don't like reading that stuff. If you want to read about that, let me know!_ _ **Also, let me know if you'd prefer a new one shot for it or for it to just be posted with in a way he was her first and for that story to just be a collection of Janya's…time together.**_ _Thanks so much for your continued support!_

 _Guest review responses:_

 _To the guest who said they're terrible at actually reviewing stories: Thank you for reviewing mine then! I'm so…touched and just really happy that you feel attached to the characters in my story. That is one of my many goals when writing, to have readers become linked to the characters, and I'm happy I have at least succeeded with you! I'm sorry there hasn't been much clint-anna interaction. With so many characters in the storyline it's hard to get one on one time with each one. I'll try to work on that for the future for you!_

 _To Paulie: Thank you, for all your lovely comments about how well written and interesting my stories are. I understand the concept of a hidden-reader, I can be one at times, and so I thank you for leaving me a review._

 _To the guest who read all of rehabilitate and Relentless in two weeks (Anon): I'm taking the whole turning your world topsy-turvy as a good thing :) I'm so thrilled to think my writing is skillful. And aww I am excited I got you fangirling over my OC yay! Hope you enjoyed this update as well. Sorry if it seemed choppy, I kind of started writing it then continued it at a later point in time._

 _To omoidashu: yay I'm happy to know you like Bucky and Anya together! (little secret, I do too). To know you've even re-read my story is awesome. I have not given up on this, and I hope to update a little more frequently, or at least as frequently as possible!_

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	13. Chapter 13

" _Even if we're breaking down, we can find a way to break through. Even if we can't find Heaven, I'll walk through Hell with you. Love you're not alone, 'cause I'm gonna stand by you." Rachel Platten Stand by You_

* * *

"Explain to me again why I'm diving in the bay?" Julia asked via the walkie talkie Brock had given her. In truth, she was stalling as she sat on the side of the rental boat with her gear. She'd only gotten her diving license for her trip to the Bahamas that never actually happened. Not having been diving since the training class, she wasn't looking forward to exploring the depths of the upper New York bay. Who knew how many dead bodies were down there.

"We've been through this several times Julia," Rumlow sighed, hoping his sister wouldn't chicken out. She'd never been prone to taking risks. "Stark Tower is connected to city line A, kept off the electrical grid by an arc reactor. That line is a straight 30 leagues down from your position. I need you to disable it."

"Right," Julia muttered, wondering how she always let her brother lead her into these messes. This had to be illegal, not to mention insane. Brock insisted it was a race between Hydra and him: who got to the girl first. It was a bunch of bull, but you couldn't say no to family. That's what their father had instilled in them.

"So, I just attach the mini bomb thing to the reactor and reach the surface and the boat before it is set to go off. Doesn't sound dangerous at all." Julia's sarcasm, a defense mechanism for her fear, had Rumlow quick to reassure her she'd have plenty of time to get away. She had full control over programming the timer. He needed a way in and a distraction for when Anna and the others returned from their little party. A party that Brock knew Hydra would crash, as stupid as that might be with the Avengers present. No, the real trick to catching your prey was to hit them when they thought they were safe, where they thought they were safe.

"Here goes nothing," Julia muttered, before donning the rest of her gear and slipping into the dark murky water of the bay.

…

Brock could only wait once Julia dived in. They had no way to communicate during her time spent under water, not without Hydra technology. So he stood in the shadows outside of Stark Tower as he waited for the lights to go out. He didn't start getting impatient until the sound of gunshots echoed in the night before a car riddled with bullet holes came barreling down the street, headed straight for what the schematics had shown to be an underground garage at Stark Tower.

He didn't think it could get any worse, the possibility that Hydra had damaged Anna, until the evidence that she was perfectly fine came through the radio, and she wasn't the only one who had survived. That was blatantly clear from the tone of the conversation.

"Damn it Julia, what's taking so long," Brock muttered to himself, gritting his teeth at what was coming through the radio.

…

"Going dark sounds a lot like suicide right now," Anna murmured, her eyes moving towards the wall of glass before them.

"Everything will be fine," James assured her as he hastily fitted her with a makeshift harness.

"You're suggesting jumping out of the window of a high rise. We are going to die." Stark Tower was a 20 floor high rise building with a modern design. From here down it was just glass windows and the metal holding the Tower together: there were no balconies to jump from floor to floor from on this side. It was suicide.

"No we're not. I've done this before." Hasty exits and getaways were not foreign to him. More than once he'd had to jump off and out of buildings after pursuing a target. The one huge difference was he'd only been placing himself in danger. This time he had Anya with him, making him tie an extra knot in the makeshift harness, pulling it as tight as he could before hooking it to him.

"Yeah, well, I'm not you. I don't have super strength or speed or healing abilities. I'm as fragile as Tony thinks I am." Anna wasn't a superhero. She hadn't been a super active child, and trying to catch up with those around her in the self-defense category for the last couple months had been exhausting. She didn't have a special suit to protect her from attacks, nor was she as skilled in death defying acts like the rest of the Avengers. She was just Anna. A doctor who was feeling way out of her element.

"Do you trust me?" James' hands coming to rest on either side of her face was what pulled Anna out of her spiraling thoughts of how much she didn't fit in with the superhero group she'd been living with.

"That's not fair. You know I do." Fearing death from jumping out of a window did not mean she didn't trust James; she trusted him with her life.

"Then hold on tight," James insisted, pulling her in and wrapping his arms tight around her. Using the gun Anna hadn't seen him pull, James shot several rounds at the window. Before she had time to formulate another word, he was hurtling them both out the window, using his back to shatter the weakened glass. Anna reflexively tightened her grip on him, letting out a shrill scream as she closed her eyes, completely terrified.

Disoriented, with her stomach in knots, Anna didn't open her eyes until she felt them slow to a stop. Only then did she realize that James' had used his metal arm to dig into the metal sides of the building and ensure their safe decent. An impressive feat.

"Woah," Anna murmured, looking up at the window they left far behind. It actually made her stomach uneasy again, seeing just how far they had 'fallen' from. She could vaguely hear James asking her if she was alright, to which she only nodded before asking her own question. "Now what?"

"Now we go dark," James repeated, slicing through the harness he'd taken such care making. "We disappear. No contact with anyone within our world. Give me your phone." Holding out his hand, James could see the hesitance in Anya's face. She hadn't realized he'd seen her grab it from the night stand when she was throwing on her clothes.

"Wait," Anna pleaded, holding up her hand when James starting reaching for the phone she had pulled out of her pocket. "Tony deserves to know I'm okay." She couldn't let him think she was dead, or worse. Anna knew the torture she went through thinking he was dead. She couldn't do that to him, again. Unfortunately, that's exactly what 'going dark' entailed. As James gently explained, taking the phone from her, and crushing it in his metal fist. It was safer for both them and Tony if no one knew what happened. Even one last message could throw everyone Anya cared about into the mix of Hydra's war path.

Anna simply stared aghast at the bits of metal and plastic that had been her phone until James pulled her away, into the shadows of the building. It reminded Anna that they were, indeed, still in danger. They'd just narrowly escaped Rumlow and who knew what inside, but they had only bought so much time before he caught up. Not to mention, there was still Hydra.

So Anna followed James through the shadows of the city, holding on to his hand tight as they weaved through alleyways. They hijacked a car near the Brooklyn bridge, much to Anna's relief. Not only was she tired, but the flesh wound from the bullet was really starting to sting, not getting a chance to properly heal.

"You wouldn't happen to have gauze and tape in that bag, would you?" Anna asked, leaning her head back against the head rest before turning to face James. His face was mostly in shadows, lit up every five feet from a flicker of streetlights, but she could still see the worry etched in his forehead as he answered in the negative.

"I thought you said you weren't hurt," James stated, glancing at Anya out of the corner of his eyes, trying to rein in his worry. He'd taken the measures to minimize the possible damage to her from jumping out of the window. She had said she was fine.

"It's not a new injury. The bullet graze hasn't had time to heal." James reply came in the form of muttered Russian as he reached across the small space and pulled open the glovebox.

Anna had no idea what he was hoping to find until he found it, pressing a flask into her hands. Vodka. At least, that's what she assumed after taking a whiff. She would have questioned how he knew it would be there, but seeing the apartments from which they had found the car in front of, she didn't have to. Neither did she need to ask what it was for, as she gingerly pulled up her shirt and gritted her teeth before pouring the contents on her wound. It would do for a disinfectant to stave off an infection until she could patch it up.

"So, where exactly are we going?" Anna had seen spy movies, where there were hidden bunkers and safe houses for spies on the run. However, they didn't have an organization sponsoring their escape, which left their destination pretty much up in the air.

"I haven't figured that out yet." In truth, James had no specific destination in mind. All of his usual places were immediately ruled out, they'd be some of the first places Hydra would start looking. The only plan he had so far was to get out of the city. "Somewhere off the grid."

"I might know a place," Anna responded, reopening the glove box and digging for any sort of map.

…

Once again, Tony couldn't locate Anna Banana. He'd given her a couple hours of space, listened to the boring small talk of those he'd invited, but as soon as he started looking for her, she was nowhere to be found. The party was only so big, and after making Pepper check the ladies room for her with no success, Tony whipped out his phone, determined to get Jarvis to hack into the security feed and locate Anna for him. The only problem was, there was no response on Jarvis' end, and Jarvis never went off line. He was connected to the power of Stark Tower. So, if he wasn't responding, something was seriously wrong.

"Eduardo, bring the car around," Tony ordered into the phone, flagging Steve down from across the room, pulling him away from Emily. There was a chance he'd be needing back up.

"What if Anna and Bucky left to be alone?" Steve offered up, trying to ignore how many traffic laws Tony was violating as he maneuvered them through the city traffic.

"That doesn't explain why Jarvis isn't responding," Tony responded, making a sharp left turn. "Or why my name isn't lit up like Christmas."

When the garage door didn't open automatically, as predicted, Tony simply floored it, smashing his way into his private garage and taking down a few of his own cars in the process. He barely registered Steve grumbling, inquiring if that was really necessary, when his eyes landed on one car he knew he didn't own. The one that had a barrage of bullet holes.

"Still think I'm overreacting?" Tony asked, answered by Steve grabbing the gun he'd seen Bucky store in the small space between the front of the limo and the back. 'Just in case' he'd said. Steve was beginning to understand Bucky's paranoia.

After calling Pepper to tell her to book a hotel room for the night, and to send Natasha and Clint to the Tower, Tony and Steve started sweeping the building floor by floor. The further they got, the more desperate Tony was getting. There was no sign of anyone, friend or foe, until Natasha and Clint joined them halfway up. When he finally reached James' room, after seeing the carnage left in the others on his floor, Tony's heart felt as if it still had the shrapnel encroaching in on it.

All he saw was the broken glass, and that Anna wasn't there. There were only so many ways those two scenarios could have ended. Walking closer to the gaping, jagged hole in the window, Tony braced himself before looking down, expecting to see the crumpled body of Anna lying broken on the ground below him. When he didn't see anything, he felt a mix of relief and unease.

"What happened to my sister?" Tony muttered, more to himself than the Avengers that had assembled behind him.

"Hydra," Clint offered, stating the most obvious of answers. They had been the ones who took her last time.

"This wasn't Hydra," Steve murmured as he took in his surroundings. "Hydra would have enough manpower to find Bucky and Anna before they could jump."

"Who else could kill the power on the tower? And make my sister decide jumping out of a high rise window was the best option available?" Since the Tower went off the grid with clean energy, losing power hadn't been a threat. The only way would be to disable the source, which was deep under the bay. Even if someone could get to it, disabling it was a whole other obstacle.

"Rumlow," Steve responded without any doubt. He was the man who had first given the order to take Anna, the man they had spent weeks trying to track down, while he was apparently researching ways to break into Stark Tower. "But he had to have partners. This was more than a one man job."

"Fine, let's say for a minute I believe Rumlow is capable of disabling the power on my Tower. If he wasn't successful in getting Anna, and killing Tinman, where are they now? Anna didn't come back to the charity function and she hasn't tried to call me." Tony was having a hard time believing that Anna was alright, seeing as this felt a lot like the last time she'd been taken by Hydra.

"Bucky had a bag packed and ready. It's gone. Meaning they aren't coming back." It was yet another 'in case' Bucky had set in place. Steve only knew about it because he'd caught Bucky initially packing the bag and wouldn't let the subject drop.

"Quick escape, only carrying the necessities, and no contact. It's more than them not coming back," Natasha murmured, her mind flashing back to Budapest. Catching eyes with Clint, she could tell he was the only one following her. "They've gone dark."

* * *

 _A/N Hey everyone. Before I start I want to acknowledge that, yes, I know this is late. And yes, I know this is short. But at least it's an update right? There will be more…happening in the next chapter. At least what I have sketched out in my head for it._ _ **Also for those interested an M rated telling of the Janya interaction in the last chapter is posted as chapter 2 under 'in a way he was her first' on my story list.**_ _I'm looking forward to hearing from you all, please don't be too harsh in your reviews! Keep in mind I've been dealing with adulting (something that is not fun, I do not recommend becoming an adult. Avoid it at all costs)._

 _Guest Review Responses_

 _Imabaconlover: I'm sorry I am killing you. I appreciate you think I'm a great writer :) Sorry this update was late and short. I still hope you enjoyed it_

 _To the guest who has followed this since the beginning: Thank you! I'm glad you're sticking with me. Yay for liking how I write anna and bucky and I know, I can't stand Rumlow either._

 _Jo: To be fair, if Tony was really right, he wouldn't let her go to the party. Plus, he was a little wrong seeing as she got attacked in the tower that he thought she'd be safe in. Still, she usually just automatically goes against what Tony says as may siblings do. I know I hate admitting when my older sister is right._

 _Thanks for the reviews and the love guys!_

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	14. Chapter 14

" _Little do you know all my mistakes are slowly drowning me. Little do you know I'm trying to make it better piece by piece. Little do you know I love you till the sun dies." Alex and Sierra Little do you Know_

" _And I think I love her more than I even understand," Andy Grammer Crazy Beautiful_

It had taken several hours before they finally made it to the house in the mountains. Anna hadn't been there in years. Emily was the one who brought her there first, when Anna needed a break from life in general back in college. The house belonged to Antoine Triplet, a longtime friend of Emily's family. Her grandfather had served with Antoine's in the Howling Comandos, and Antoine had inherited it from his grandfather. Only three people alive knew of it, four now that James had driven Anna to it.

The ride had been a silent one, broken only by Anna's directions as she tried to follow the map to the mountain. She'd mainly relied on landmarks she remembered from her last trip there when the map became too confusing for her. The silence continued once they'd gotten inside the safe house. It hadn't been intentional during the ride, but it sure as hell had been once they'd gotten to their destination.

"That was my favorite shirt of yours," James murmured, glancing at the pink material forever stained red; blood didn't come out. It was the only item of clothing in that color that Anya owned. James had always liked the way one side or the other would often slip off Anya's shoulder, as well as the softness of the worn cotton. It was one of the first items he'd stashed in the emergency bag.

"How long are you going to refuse to talk to me?" He asked when his comment was met with silence, just like everything he had said had been since they'd made it to their destination. He wasn't used to Anya being so silent. Her anger hurt him. He was only doing what he knew would keep them alive.

Anna waited until she had pulled the finally stitch through the wound at her side, tying off the end before turning her eyes on James. It had finally settled in, the fact that he was refusing her any contact with her brother whatsoever, when they got to the house and he'd instantly disconnected the phone line. Well, more like pulled it out of the wall. No calls were going to be coming in or going out anytime soon.

"You made me leave my brother with no clue whatsoever what happened to me. I could be prisoner of Hydra. I could be dead." She finally grounded out.

"It was for our own good. His own good," James stated matter of fact. He would not feel bad about keeping them, and everyone Anya cared about, safe. Someone had to have the strength to do what was needed.

"Bullshit." Anna snapped, the curse feeling foreign on her tongue. "I had the chance to tell him I was alive. Safe. And you took that from me. I know what it feels like to think the only family you have left is dead. To constantly think of what you could have done differently to prevent it. What you would say if you got one more chance. To relive the pain, day in and day out, of knowing you will never see them again. Tony has already been through that with me, twice. I don't want to put him through that again." Anna had been kidnapped by Hydra twice now, and now she'd disappeared without a trace. She knew how that would eat Tony alive. The years Tony had gone missing, presumed dead, had been Hell for Anna. It was just a call, a simple, short call that would help Tony live life without the pain. And now, she had no way to ease that pain. A fact that had tears spilling from her eyes.

"Going dark means you can't compromise your location. To anyone, for anything." James stood his ground. Why couldn't Anya understand the importance of staying under the radar? Hydra could have killed her tonight, Rumlow could have taken her. Both had gotten too close. For the moment, they were safe. He wanted to preserve that until he had a plan to go after their threats.

"I know what going dark means! I don't have to tell Tony where I am. Just that I'm alive. Safe." James had seen how close they were. Family was everything to Anna. Why couldn't James understand that she needed Tony to know she was alive? Their family had been through enough loss, unnecessary mourning was a cruel punishment to instill on Tony.

"Communications can be traced. It's not worth the risk." Tony was a technological mastermind. He had the ability to trace Anna's location from a phone booth call. A call made to him now would give him, and anyone that was intercepting his communications, their location.

"It is to me," Anna responded coldly, stepping around him and walking back towards the bedrooms. Choosing one at random, Anna shut the door behind her and locked it. Though it wouldn't do any good if James really wanted to come in, it would send her message across clearly: she wanted to be alone.

Moving to the opposite side of the room, Anna pulled open the closet doors, looking for something to replace the bloodied shirt she'd left behind in the kitchen. The choices were slim, and her eyes hesitated over a light pink blouse, but she finally settled on a deep purple V neck. She told herself it would help hide the blood better should her stitches rip, but in reality she did it to spite James after discovering he'd liked the color pink on her.

Slipping the shirt, that was slightly too big for her, over her head, Anna curled up under the covers. Loneliness settled in around her as she tried to fall asleep. Eventually, she drifted off, the pillow damp from her tears and the covers twisted. James, on the other hand, couldn't sleep. Not without Anya. He was too stressed, afraid that they might have been tracked by Hydra. The lengths that the organization, and Rumlow, had gone to either eliminate or retrieve her frightened James. With the threat still out there, and Anya not within reach, James simply sat straight backed against the wall outside the room where Anya had disappeared to. He had his ears trained sounds of life, other than Anya's soft breathing, and a gun resting across his lap.

…

It didn't take long for Tony to fix the broken window. Reconstructing an arc reactor to get the building back on its on electrical grid took a little longer. Someone had completely blown his first model to oblivion. As much as it surprised everyone, Tony didn't start to obsessively search for Anna once the building was back up and running. Instead, he poured his energy into getting the team to track down Hydra.

"I think we should call down Thor, get him in on this. We could use all the manpower we can get to take down Hydra." Tony announced as they all stood around the holographic map where they'd pinpointed a couple Hydra compounds.

"Are you sure you're emotionally stable to go after Hydra," Steve questioned, causing Bruce to fanatically shake his head in warning from behind Tony.

"My sister is in hiding, where even I can't know her location, because of Hydra. As much as it pains me to say, she's safer off the grid with Tin Man. And the only way she can come home is by taking down the organization that put her on the run. So yes, all of my focus will be on taking down Hydra." Anna being safe was more important than her being with him. It was already made evident she hadn't been completely safe in the tower. Tony just hoped, wherever she was, Hydra wouldn't find her there.

"Let's get Thor down here then," Steve announced after a moment of silence. He wanted Bucky and Anna back as much as Tony, and for once Tony had thought out a way logically.

That's not to say Tony hadn't vented to Bruce while reconstructing the arc reactor about all the ways they could locate Anna. He'd been all gung-ho to start a search and rescue party for her. But that was before Bruce talked him down, stating how maybe Anna was safer where she was. Of course, Tony went ahead and tried everything he could think of to locate Anna, including having Jarvis filter through hours of red light footage. It had been fruitless. They'd find them in one frame, but following cameras along those roads in every direction resulted in a big fat nothing. Tony was eventually forced to admit that Bruce was right. If Tony couldn't find where they'd gone, perhaps Anna was safer.

…

Waking up alone had a cold chill settling in Anna's heart. Though memories of the previous night, and the thought of Tony believing he might be without family now, had the anger bubbling back to the surface. She held on to that anger, letting it grow as she washed away the dirt and blood in the shower. Redressing in the outfit she'd slept in, having little alternative choices, Anna would have stayed locked in the room all day if it wasn't for the sharp pains of hunger.

Fully intending on ignoring James if she should come across him on the way to the kitchen, Anna's resolve crumbled when she opened the door to find him sitting just outside the door. He hadn't changed, in fact she was fairly certain he hadn't slept at all. The fact that he'd stay awake all night, outside her door, with a gun at the ready, proved how much he cared.

When he turned his eyes up to meet hers, they were guarded, uncertain of how she would react. It had her sliding to a seat beside him, their shoulders knocking together as he adjusted the gun in his lap to face away from her. Not knowing what to say without upsetting her, he simply held his tongue and waited for Anya to break the silence.

"You didn't sleep," Anna finally commented, unsure if she was ready to forgive him, a part of her wanting to stubbornly hold on to her anger.

"I couldn't." Knowing Anya was mad at him, combined with the fear of being found, had put him too on edge to get sleep.

"We're safe here. I promise," Anna reassured him, guilt pressing in on her as she realized she'd given him no information on the safe house, nor any real reason for him to feel safe. "Only two other people know about this place. Antoine hasn't been here since his grandfather passed, and Emily hasn't been since she got second chair in the New York Orchestra. Tony doesn't even know about it." Her voice was a little gruff when mentioning Tony. She still wasn't completely over the fact she couldn't let him know she was alive.

"I'm sorry," James murmured, surprising Anna. "For upsetting you. I'm just trying to keep you safe. I'd tried it your way, but it didn't work. So now I'm doing it the best way I know how to. By disappearing, becoming ghosts to the world until we can emerge with the upper hand."

"Family means everything to me," Anna started, turning her head to find James watching her. There was fear in his eyes, fear that she wouldn't forgive him. She needed to erase that fear, make him understand and put things into perspective. "You're my family, too, now. There's nothing I wouldn't forgive family for."

Leaning forward, James pressed his lips lightly against Anya's, a response caused by his relief at the knowledge she wouldn't give up on him. She wouldn't be mad at him forever. Even if she pushed him away now, she wouldn't always. She would forgive him. Almost expecting her to move away, she surprised him by returning the gentle kiss, pulling him closer by the front of his shirt. It stirred up memories of last night, before Rumlow had ruined it. The memory caused James to break away from the kiss just long enough to murmur 'I love you' in Russian before his lips met Anya's again.

It wasn't fair for James to go and kiss her when she was still cross with him. When she broke apart to mention that fact, James simply smiled before pulling her back in. There was no way Anna could even pretend to be mad at him when he kissed her like that, not to mention the whole confessing his love in Russian. Her stubborn anger didn't stand a chance. Perhaps that was his plan. If so, it was working wonderfully. Anna had forgotten her anger as well as her hunger while James kissed her.

When he steadily deepened the kiss, sliding his right hand under the hem of her shirt, it had Anya shivering beneath his touch. In a swift movement, James had Anya replacing the gun in his lap. He wanted, needed to be closer to her. Anya had come close to death too many times to count now, and James wanted to cherish every moment they had from here on out. Because if there was one thing he knew about death, was that sooner or later it caught up to you. And when it caught up to him, he didn't want to have any regrets. He was going to start living like it might be the last time he got to be with Anya.

Tugging on the hem of her shirt, James pulled it over Anya's head when she pulled away just enough to allow him to discard the material. He took a moment to memorize her like that, before pulling her back down to him. Taking his time, James made sure to keep it slow. He'd already proven to himself he wouldn't break her, now he just wanted to take in every little part of her and commit it to memory. The way she looked, the way she smelled, the way she felt: every little look and smile. He wanted to keep that with him.

Wrapping her in his arms, James moved them both back into the bedroom, keeping her in his lap as he sat on the bed. James loved the fact that he could envelop Anya in his arms until he surrounded her, able to shield her from the world if the world came for them. But for the moment, they were safe, and when Anya's hands moved to remove his own shirt, he released his hold on her and allowed her to do as such. Pulling each other closer, they traced each other's scars. James' fingers brushed over the bullet wound on her shoulder, and the scar from the scalpel at the base of Anya's neck, gingerly. She'd soon have a new one at her side as well.

Her scars hadn't started until she met him. Each one was a memory of how he'd failed to protect her from his world. But she was still there, trusting him. There would be more scars to come, whether she stayed with him or not. And they were better together, so James would do his damnedest to make sure they stayed together.

"What are you thinking about?" Anya questioned, her hand halting its movements over the scar by his metal arm.

"How beautiful you are, how lucky I am, and how much I love you." His honest answer was rewarded with a smile and a kiss. He was the one who ended up smiling into the kiss when her hands found their way to the button of his jeans. As amusing as it was, he was setting the pace, and he wanted to take his time.

…

Anya fell asleep curled up against him, he had felt her breathing slow, and still James couldn't sleep. It wasn't that he wasn't tired, and he wanted nothing more than to relax against Anya and join her in sleep. But memories of how Rumlow had attacked once he'd allowed himself to relax kept him from drifting off. They had thought they were safe in the tower when they weren't. James didn't want to make that same mistake. Instead, he stayed up going through different tactics to help him get to Hydra or Rumlow. Preferably both.

By the time Anya woke from her nap, James had pieced together a theory that might help them with the Hydra situation. It wasn't ideal, but it was the only plausible plan he could think of. It would require Anya's cooperation and agreement.

"You didn't sleep. Again," Anya murmured, lifting her head from his chest.

"I'll sleep when our enemies are dead," James responded, talking into Anya's hair after leaning down to kiss her head.

"You do realize our enemy is an organization with innumerable followers," Anya countered, turning to face James with her arms crossed. She was adorable when she pouted.

"Guess I have my work cut out for me," he countered, pressing a kiss to her pouting lips. James was unsure exactly how to bring up his idea to Anya, as well as when. He didn't really want to ruin how calm she was. In the end, Anya was the one who brought it up, asking if he'd spent his time awake productively by coming up with a game plan.

"I have one idea. It involves tapping into your repressed memories from your time at Hydra." It was far from ideal. He hated the idea of Anya reliving whatever horrors she had witnessed or perhaps even been forced to do while under Hydra's control. But it was the only way he could think of getting insider information on them. Something to help them locate them, or figure out exactly what their game plan was.

"How do I do that?" Anna wanted to help, in any way she could, even if it meant tapping into memories she'd rather leave forgotten. She just wasn't sure how to access the memories that had yet to surface.

"Clearing your mind first helps. Then clinging to parts that you knew were real, even if they're just bits and pieces. At least that's how I've done it." It was sure to be different for everyone, but at the moment his experiences with trying to regain his memory were all he had.

"I'm scared. What if I've done something terrible?" Anya whispered, curling her legs up and tucking her chin on them. It made her look even smaller than she was.

"It wasn't you. Hydra had hijacked your mind. No one would hold you accountable for anything you did or didn't do," James reassured her, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear and letting his fingers brush along her cheek. He knew too well how it felt to discover all the destruction you'd done that you'd been made to forget. It could tear someone like Anya apart if she didn't differentiate who she was from who Hydra had made her be.

"So, first step: clear my mind," Anna stated after taking a deep breath. She could do this. "I think I'll tackle that one in the shower." Warm water was relaxing, and the shower had always been one of the few places she'd gotten some time to think back when she worked seventy hours a week at the hospital and SHIELD. It seemed a good starting point.

She felt slightly self-conscious walking across the room wearing nothing, especially knowing James was watching her. He was so…toned, handsome, perfect. While she was simply…average. Not even average when it came to her height. She had to force herself to push those doubts away. It didn't matter what she thought of herself, but what James did. And he'd made it perfectly clear he saw her as beautiful. Reminding herself of that, Anna turned around when she reached the bathroom door. As she'd predicted, James was staring. It had her next words coming out a bit hesitant.

"Want to join me?" Her question had his lips lifting into a half smile as he rose from the bed. Now she was the one who was staring.

…

"All that trouble, and you're telling me you didn't get her?" Julia snapped, annoyed that she'd gone through so much trouble, had broken the law, for nothing. She could have died, and Brock had nothing to show for it.

"I hadn't anticipated them jumping out of a 20th floor window." Julia had to admit that was badass. Especially since they survived.

"At least you know Hydra doesn't have her. She's alive and relatively safe." Even as she said it, Julia knew it wouldn't satisfy her brother. She wasn't stupid enough to think it would end his insane mission to find the girl. Brock was obsessed. Julia would have him committed if she could prove any of it. But she knew he would just turn it around, and possibly get her committed.

"No. She's not. We just have to regroup before we find her." He didn't know how he'd find her, but he wouldn't stop trying. Not while Anna was with the asset. And not while Hydra was hunting her down.

Julia could only sigh in response. Why couldn't her brother be obsessed with a girl who actually liked him? Because it was more than obvious this one didn't. She'd jumped out a high story window to get away from him. If that didn't send a message, what would?

…

"Close your eyes," James murmured, his knees nudging Anya gently. They were sitting cross legged, face to face, in front of the fireplace. He'd started a fire in the living room after their shower, thinking it might help Anya to relax her mind while she tried to remember.

"I just want to let you know, I feel completely stupid doing this," Anya retorted, though she did close her eyes. For a moment, James was distracted, taking in her damp hair and the pink shirt she'd decided on. It was a little too big on her, making her look all the more innocent.

"Find something to anchor yourself to that time and place all your focus on it." James instructed, once he'd returned his attention to the task at hand.

Searching for something real in the black cavern that was her memories, Anna felt hopeless. It'd been hard enough to remember what was real and what wasn't when she'd woken up from surgery. As a result, she'd buried the false memories deep beneath the surface, even if they might have contained a bit of truth to them. She hadn't wanted to remember them. The only connection she had to them now was Rumlow. And though she didn't really want to go there, she began focusing on him, laying in the plush hospital bed in front of the monitor. That had been the last memory before the modifications. The last real thing Anna remembered.

"I had a lab," Anya finally muttered, her eyes still closed in concentration. They'd been sitting in front of the fire for a good two hours before that, waiting for a memory to come. "I was comparing blood samples. Trying to note any molecular abnormalities. "

"Whose blood?" James pushed, hoping it might help edge her memories in the right direction.

"I don't know. They never told me." James watched closely as Anya's brow scrunched up in concentration. "But only two of the samples had what they wanted. Had been successful."

The harder Anna tried to catch the memories the blurrier they became. She didn't stop trying though. She kept wading through the darkness, trying to grab at the blurry images that would light up every so often, until it gave her a headache. Opening her eyes, she let her head fall into her hands in defeat as a dull pain throbbed against the inside of her head.

"I can't do it."

"Yes, you can. You just did. It might not seem like much to go on, but it's a breakthrough," James insisted, leaning forward to pull Anna's face out of her hands, and peppering her face with soft kisses before finally letting them find her lips. There was no denying James was much more openly affectionate than he had been at the tower. Perhaps that had something to do with them finally having privacy.

"I keep expecting Steve or Pepper, or Tony to interrupt us," Anna murmured lowly when James had moved his attention to her jaw line. He immediately froze, pulling away with a sigh.

"You did say you wanted to move out for privacy," James responded, gritting his teeth. He'd had hoped she'd gotten over the fact she couldn't communicate with her brother. With any of the people in their lives.

"Move, yes, but not cut off interaction completely." In her musings, Anna had meant an apartment outside of the city where she could visit Tony, or at least call him. Not a safe house with no contact with the outside world.

"It's not forever, Anya. I promise, as soon as we at least take down the group of Hydra attacking you, you can call your brother." It's not as if James relished in tearing Anya away from her family. Why would he, when it would only make her angry with him. Going dark had been a last resort. Seeing as they were attacked inside the tower, the safest place in Anya's world, that last resort became the only option.

"What do you mean the Hydra group attacking?" Anna asked, temporarily forgetting about Tony in favor of that new piece of information.

"Hydra has factions. Each faction has its own heads and its own projects. Pierce headed the faction that took you before Rumlow took over. He was the highest member of Hydra that had you on his radar. As soon as we find Rumlow's successor and take care of his team, we eliminate the direct threat Hydra poses to you." Of course, it'd probably be a bit harder than it sounded. But the gist of it was there. Though James was determined to bring down the whole organization, they only needed to be in hiding until they took out those that were aware of Anya's knowledge of the inner workings of Hydra.

"So only a fraction of their resources were channeled into killing us?" That was a little scary, knowing how close they'd gotten to succeeding. Anna couldn't imagine what it'd be like if the whole of Hydra had them on their wanted list. Actually, she'd probably already be dead if the whole organization was focused on it.

"They got lucky. We were in the public eye, gave them every advantage. I eased up too much." It had been a bad idea to go to that party. James should have known Hydra would be there.

"That's why you won't sleep." James didn't want to ease up too much, and sleeping would mean an 8 hour period where his guard was completely shut down. No hearing, seeing, or sensing danger.

"I'll sleep when our enemies are dead," James repeated, confirming Anna's comment as truth. He was going to wear himself out with that outlook. Rising from her seat on the floor, Anna tugged on James arms until he rose with her. Leading him to the kitchen she ordered him to take a seat on the stool by the counter as she riffled through the pantries to see what food the place had.

"Sleep is one thing. But you can at least eat while our enemies live." Anna announced as she pulled noodles and sauce form the pantry: spaghetti it was. It was fast becoming their traditional meal while on the run. James watched her as she prepared the food, but that time when Anna would return his gaze she focused on the light circles that were forming beneath his eyes, signs of his sleepless nights. One way or another, Anna was going to make sure James got some sleep. Even if she had to stoop to claiming he couldn't protect them to his full capability without rest.

Though Anna wasn't able to reach that lofty goal, being the first one to fall asleep. After the emotional rollercoaster of a day she'd had, her head had hardly had time to sink into the pillow before she was out cold. She didn't remain that way for too long. One side effect of tapping into the memories from her time at Hydra were nightmares. Long hallways and unmarked doors accidently opened led to her jolting awake in a cold sweat screaming. The scariest part being it wasn't a figment of her imagination. It had been real.

* * *

 _A/N Heyyy everybody! I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving, for those of you who celebrate it. I traveled north to my boyfriend's family for it and had a blast. Got some major deals on Black Friday. Anyways, here's the next update! For those interested, keep a lookout for more one shots to be added to In a way he was her first. :) Let me know what you think!_

 _Now onto guest review responses:_

 _Sam: First, let me say all of your reviews made me smile so much! I'm so thrilled that you're loving not only my story, but my characters. All of your amazing compliments about character development, and this being the best fanfic ever, it just made my year. I'm glad to hear you'd be interested in buying any books I might write. I'm working on some original material now, along with life and this story. I am not doing NANOWRIMO, unfortunately. I feel like I wouldn't have been able to do it with the adulting and studying and writing this beauty. Besides, the original I'm working on wasn't started in November so it wouldn't have counted towards it. Thanks for the input on order of writing. I will definitely finish this one then probably start on Steve/Emily. I hadn't even thought about putting links to Russian speakers on my pinterest page for this story, I will definitely look into doing that now. :) The Winter Soldier made me start falling in love with Russian too. Sigh. Thank you for sharing your playlist. SO SO MUCH. I have created a YouTube playlist with all those songs and listen to them while I write now. If you couldn't' tell by the song quotes I used (both from songs on the playlist you provided). The whole 1d of Tony stems down to two things. One being time restraint. And another being I don't feel as connected with his character. I don't own any of the Iron Mans (yet) so I haven't been able to binge watch them like captain America. Therefore I don't feel like I have a full grasp on Tony's full character and his motivations and such. I'm basically trying to keep it as cannon as possible so people don't blast me with hate. Therefore he turns 1d from my lack of knowledge. I'm super happy you like how I'm writing Natasha. It's fun writing her and trying to get inside her head. As for Clintasha hints, I'm continuing what the first avengers kind of did there. My reasoning is that Clint is trying to keep his family a secret from SHIELD and everybody to keep them safe. And The reason there were mistaken Clintasha moments were because not only are they best friends/close, but Natasha is helping him keep his cover. By hinting that they are interested in one another, it means throwing everyone off the scent that Clint might have a family. So I'm going with the hints, not because I'm making them like each other, but I'm keeping their whole 'I've got your back' thing. I always love compliments on how I portray James (and I'm loving that I've gotten a lot of reviewers to refer to Bucky as James now lol) so I'm so so grateful you mentioned your love of me keeping his darker instincts and sides. I also love it because you mention I'm a great writer by doing so :) The fact that you don't normally review and you've reviewed multiple chapters makes me so very proud and happy. Thank you! I'm never ruling out Janya children. I also think it would be adorable. And 25/27 isn't too young for kids at all. No, Emily is not Peggy's daughter. Emily is actually Dum Dum Dugan's granddaughter. I have never watched agent carter, I want to soooo bad. I'm waiting for Netflix to pick it up. Rumlow is a complete creep, I agree. And another complement about how I handle sex scenes. Yay. I like you. You instill confidence in me about my writing. I will try to find a Russian pronunciation for Anya and add that as one of the links on pinterest in my downtime. I'm pretty sure its (Ahn-yuh) but I'm not 100% sure. 12 hours straight of reading my stories is dedication. Thank you so much for that!_

 _To the guest who has read Rehabilitate 20 times: I' m glad you found the pinterest board for the stories! I liked the mental image of a seal reaction in a human. Glad I could make ya happy!_

 _To the guest who I am killing and who compared my story to Twist: I am not familiar with that story so I do not know the similarities. I can comment that Anna does not have a cat, so that was a mistaken similarity between my character and whoever the character in Twist is. I'm sorry I've been keeping you in suspense. I do know how hard it is to wait for updates and book releases. I apologize for giving you that grief and I hope you still continue to read and enjoy the story, despite my irregular updates._

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	15. Chapter 15

Relentless Chapter 15

" _After years of deception, and your broken roads, there will be no rejection from my heart to yours. So show me hope, and show me fear, from your heart that's beating. You're not alone in your tears, cause when love is fleeting and the world is sleeping, I'll be, I'll be, your family." Boyce Avenue Family._

" _Perfect love you'll never find. Love the flaws in your design. The imperfections that you see, and the scars of you and me, are the truth of everything we're meant to be," Boyce Avenue Imperfect me._

 **Previously**

 **Though Anna wasn't able to reach that lofty goal, being the first one to fall asleep. After the emotional rollercoaster of a day she'd had, her head had hardly had time to sink into the pillow before she was out cold. She didn't remain that way for too long. One side effect of tapping into the memories from her time at Hydra were nightmares. Long hallways and unmarked doors accidently opened led to her jolting awake in a cold sweat screaming. The scariest part being it wasn't a figment of her imagination. It had been real.**

* * *

"There were so many bodies. Dozens of them discarded as though they were nothing but medical waste. As if their lives hadn't mattered," Anna murmured, wrapping her arms tighter around her torso. The images were horrifying. There'd been dozens of body bags, some bodies weren't even in bags, and their lifeless eyes and stitched up bodies shed light on what state the bodies in bags were in. And it definitely wasn't something she was intended to see. Shortly after, there was another painful shock to her head that had her waking up in her bed, a little confused as to how she'd gotten there. They'd tried to recalibrate her, rewrite her mind so she didn't remember it. Anna wished they'd succeeded.

"They were experimenting," James murmured, smoothing back Anya's tangled hair. Whatever she'd seen in her nightmare had rattled her. She wasn't used to Hydra's blurry morals when it came to basic human rights. The information didn't come as much of a shock to him. Hydra liked human experimentation, and loved the phrase 'for the greater good'. They'd keep trying until they had success. He was one of their successful ones. At times he'd wondered if it'd been better if he'd been a failure as well. "Was there anything else, notes or files? Anything that explained what they were experimenting for?"

As much as Anna didn't want to dwell on the horrifying images, she forced herself to take a calming breath. Closing her eyes she focused on the nightmare she wished was only fiction, searching the blurry surroundings for any details that would help and blatantly ignoring the dead bodies she was wading past.

"There's a bulletin board on the wall," Anna whispered, trying to force the memory to zoom in. Instead of cooperating, her brain pushed her away to a different memory. A file folder was open on the table in front of her, detailing the results of the successful experiment she'd been investigating. There were no names, just two letters heading each column. Under the XX column there were a lot of questions, but a few statements with one claiming telekinesis. The XY column had several bullets underneath: speed, stamina, faster healing.

"My research dealt with two base subject's blood: a girl and a boy. They were the control group. All those bodies must have been failed attempts at recreating what they'd succeeded in the boy and girl. I was supposed to help fill in the blanks to solve them." Obviously she hadn't succeeded. The fact that Anna's failure might have meant even one of those deaths had her stomach turning. Though the thought of what would have happened if she'd succeeded wasn't much better.

"Anya," James' voice was soft as he pulled her closer to him, kissing her forehead before letting his thumbs rub circles over her cheeks. She hadn't even been aware she was crying until the pad of James' thumb brushed the wetness from her cheeks. "Look at me."

Hesitantly Anna let her eyelids flutter open, his face slightly blurred from her silent tears. James' blue eyes met hers from inches away as he leaned his forehead against hers. Just his nearness was starting to settle her fear. She always felt safer with him.

"Nothing you saw was your fault. They would have continued the research without you. Those people still would have died." James was right, her actions didn't control Hydra's. If she hadn't been brainwashed into working on the research, some other scientist would have been working on it. Hell, Hydra probably already had a dozen scientists working on it at the same time she was.

"I just want all of this to be over. I'm tired of hiding, of being hunted down, and of getting shot. Especially getting shot," Anna muttered, blinking away the remnants of tears hanging on to her eyelashes. Hydra stood in her way of living in any fragment of normalcy with James. She'd found him, now when would she be allowed to be with him without having to look over their shoulders?

"Anya, I promise you I will make you safe again." If it was the last thing he did, James would ensure Anya's safety from the organization that loved to take everything from a person. James always protected those he cared about, while the people he cared for tried to protect the world. First it was Steve, now it was Anya. They were idealists in a world that took advantage of naivety.

"Make us safe," Anna corrected. It wasn't just about her safety, it was about both of their safety. Anna's safety would mean nothing if James wasn't there to share in it with her. "And that starts with finding Hydra. How are we supposed to do that when we are hiding?" They lacked the technology required to attempt tracking down a global organization that thrived operating under the radar.

James knew how he would do it if he was riding solo. There'd been missions that lasted weeks in questionable terrain where he had no contact with his…handlers. He was on his own to hunt down his target. James always got his target. Seedy people normally frequented seedy places to do their business. Hell even the bad ones posing as good guys did their business in seedy places. No one there would recognize them. It would take a week of recon in the field, and multiple visits to questionable establishments until he could shake down someone who had answers. Then a bullet in the head would silence them from talking to anyone else, or warning his target. None of those were options now. Not with Anya, who would insist on tagging along.

"I don't suppose, if my way meant you staying put while I hunt them down, you'd go along with it?" Even though he knew what her answer would be, James had to ask.

"If you mean lock me in the panic room while you're out risking your life with no backup, then no. I most certainly won't go through with that crazy plan." It was double standards really. Anna wanted to keep James safe as much as James wanted that for her. His way gave him what he wanted, but left Anna empty handed.

"There's a panic room?" Out of all that, the panic room was what interested him the most. Anna should have known better than to mention that tidbit.

"Antoine's grandfather liked the idea of being prepared. When he built the cabin he had a secure panic room built in. Of course I think they called it a bunker back then." Bunkers weren't all that uncommon during World War II, the government made sure people were prepared for the worse.

"Where is it?" James insisted, moving off the bed and sending Anna a look that clearly meant he wanted her to show him it.

"You're not going to try and stuff me in there then go save the world?" Anna wouldn't put that past him. She might have before he'd launched them out of a 20 something story building then crushed her phone so she couldn't contact her brother. Now, Anna was starting to see there was nothing James wouldn't do if he thought it would protect her.

"As tempting as that is, no. You'd probably hurt yourself trying to break out of it anyways." Anya was stubborn and didn't like following orders. Even if those orders would keep her safe. James knew better than to lock her away against her will. That would be reserved as the last absolute possible scenario. "We're in this together. I just want to see what supplies might be stored down there."

The bunker of a previous Howling Commando was sure to have weapons, protective clothes, and untraceable tech that could be of serious use to them. James might have had a bag ready for them to leave at a moment's notice, but he couldn't pack all the weapons and gear he'd have liked into one bag. However tempting it was to lie around in bed with Anya, playing house, and pretending the world wasn't after them, James had to be practical. They needed to set plans in motion in case Anya couldn't remember anything else from her time at Hydra. After the way she'd jolted awake, terrified, James almost didn't want her to try accessing those memories. Even when he knew she was strong enough to withstand them, it hurt him to see her in pain and not be able to do anything to stop it.

Anna couldn't help but gape at the contents of the panic room. Guns, knives, swords, and plenty of weapons she didn't recognize lined the walls. Apparently the mountain house wasn't just a vacation house like Emily had led her to believe. Though she doubted if Emily knew what was inside this room. Anna was still processing everything when James made his way to the wall and started pulling down his choice of weapons. He handed her a hunting knife and a handgun, choosing the sniper rifle, two handguns, several grenades and three knives for himself.

She knew James felt more secure with weapons, but she couldn't imagine them being a first priority. They still had no way of finding Hydra. And until they found them, they would have no use for the weapons. It was around that thought that James hefted an old looking radio system onto the table before them.

"Yeah, I'm not Tony. I can't make that thing work," Anna commented, placing her weapons on the table beside the old school technology. She had a hard enough time getting modern technology to work. It took her a month after the VA switched to using tablets with patient intake in the clinic for her to properly use the program without deleting information unintentionally.

"I can," James muttered as he pulled up a stool. Most of his weapons were already attached to his body through different holsters. Anna had to admit, seeing him hunched over the table and fiddling with the radio knobs with an intense concentration, packing heat, was surprisingly sexy. Even sexier when he started cursing under his breath in Russian when he tried to rework the wiring.

"I'd offer to help, but It'd probably only make you curse more," Anna murmured pulling up a seat beside James. It was an excuse to be closer to him after watching him from afar.

"You could understand that?" James asked, momentarily ignoring the wiring he'd been messing around with.

"Not exactly," Anya admitted, blushing lightly. "Tony always cursed when he was fixing mechanics. It wasn't a stretch to put two and two together given your tone. Although I do want to start learning Russian. So I can understand the things you're saying when you're not cussing." Just the thought of Anya learning Russian enough to decode what he'd previously told her in the shower had him fumbling nervously with the wires.

"Why don't we get the radio fixed and your fighting skills up to par first?" James suggested.

"Didn't I do enough training last time?" James couldn't help but chuckle when Anya wrinkled her nose at the idea of working out.

"You got captured, so that's a resounding no," James answered. When it came to Anya there was no such thing as too much practice in the self-defense category. And still he'd always do his damnedest to ensure she never had to use any of it.

…

James spent hours fixing the radio, then fiddling with the knobs in an attempt to pick up a signal. Even though it looked like frustrating work to Anna, James didn't show any outward signs of being frustrated. He simply kept his head down and continued working. During that time Anna attempted to do the knife flipping trick that James sometimes did when he was on edge. After dropping it twice and almost slicing her hand, Anna set the knife back on the table with a newfound admiration for the man beside her. He made yet another difficult task look effortless.

"Where did you learn to fix one of these?" Anna asked when James finally got the radio to emit sound, even if it was just static.

"Jim Morita, World War II, Germany." James gruff response had Anna smiling. He was using a skill he knew only from memory of his old life, not from Hydra. Picking up her knife again, Anna began moving it in her hand, getting accustomed to the weight and feel of it. If James could remember through decades of getting his mind wiped, Anna could learn how to handle a knife.

Anya wasn't at it long before James' hand stilled hers. He hadn't been able to concentrate on his work since she reached for her knife. After only minutes of watching her instead of working, and he couldn't help but cut in. The sight of her working with any weapon had him both on edge and stirred up urges to kiss her. However, if she continued as she was, she'd inevitably cut herself, so he resisted those urges. Altering her grip on the knife, James began moving her hand with his, showing her the correct way to maneuver the weapon without risking self-injury.

"Handling a weapon correctly is the most important part of you defending yourself, and the only way to make it so you don't take yourself down for your enemies." James' breath tickled Anna's ear before he stepped back, allowing her to continue the maneuvers on her own.

"I'm sorry I'm more used to handling a scalpel and only cutting into unconscious patients," Anna muttered, her cheeks warming in embarrassment. She'd almost expected the knife to be easier to master than the gun because of her experience with scalpels. Apparently she'd been sorely wrong.

"I wish circumstances weren't making you learn these things," James whispered. Guilt was almost suffocating him, making him wish he'd never let Anya in. Perhaps if he'd kept his cold wall up, she'd be free to live her normal life.

Voices cutting through the static drew his attention away from his guilt. The static was overpowering them, but there were definitely voices cutting through in the background. There was a big chance it wasn't even the voices he needed to hear, that it wasn't even the right channel. But at least he was getting somewhere in his project. He hadn't been very confident, as the information Morita had given him about this model of radio hadn't been too in depth. The memory itself was blurry at best.

"I need to amplify the signal somehow," James grumbled as he fiddled with the volume knobs. However increasing the volume meant increasing the static as well. "We need to get it out of this bunker. It's blocking everything."

Before Anna could say anything, or even move to help, James was hefting the large machine in his arms and walking out of the bunker. His muscles rippled even through the cotton of his tee as Anna followed behind him with her gun and knife. She was starting to feel helpless, more in the way than before. She was no help when it came to getting technology to work. And she certainly couldn't help James much in the physical strength department, though he seemed to have that one handled. Steve would be a much better ally to James about now. Anna wasn't cut out to be a hero, spy, or assassin. True she had medical skills, but those weren't really in great demand right now. Not that she wanted James or her to need medical attention. She just wanted to feel useful, not in the way.

"I need some air," Anna murmured after following James to the dining room upstairs where he set the radio down to continue his work. "I won't go far, just on the back deck," Anna assured James when he sent her a look that told her he was going to refute.

Heading towards the back of the house, Anna breathed a sigh of relief when she stood out on the deck. The view of the mountains surrounding them, and the chilly mountain air she breathed in, had her feeling more awake and alive. Staring out over the snowcapped mountains Anna couldn't stop the memories from when she was there last come rushing back. Emily spent the whole week trying to keep Anna's mind off of the harsh reality and the huge mess they had run away from. It wasn't until they were on the slopes, skiing down the sides of the mountain with snow and wind whipping at their face that Anna felt exhilarated enough to forget.

The mountains had always been a fond memory since then. There was a peace and tranquility up there that had her feeling removed from the rest of the world. Just being out there now, surrounded by nothing more than mountains and trees, had Anna feeling completely isolated from the mess she'd created. Once again it was her escape from the cruel reality that she'd set into motion.

…

"There's no sign of them sir. It's like they disappeared," the young agent reported. He'd just come back from a reconnaissance mission, trying to pick up any clues as to which way Stark and the Soldier had retreated in. "What are the orders?"

Rollins let out a low sigh as he wiped his hand over his face. It had been 72 hours since they'd last seen the targets, since Stark and the Soldier had slipped away into the dark without a sign as to where they went. They could be a million different places. It'd be a waste of resources to continue the manhunt. It'd be a lot more economical to wait until the popped back up on their radar again. Because it was only a matter of time before they did. They couldn't stay off the grid forever.

"Cease the search. Pull your focus towards the Gemini project," Rollins ordered. He wouldn't be like Rumlow and become obsessed with the girl and the asset. There were more important things to focus on. As long as the two were isolated from the world, the girl couldn't tell her brother or the Avengers anything pertinent she might start to remember. "Was there something else?" Rollins snapped when the agent didn't leave.

"Dr. Stark's notebook is missing. We can't locate her notes on the project." The agent winced when Rollins' fist came slamming down on the table before him. If it wasn't in her lab, the bitch must have had it on her person when the Avengers attacked the base. Which meant it was either still in her hands, or in the hands of the Avengers.

"Get our communication division set on intercepting any signals coming out of Stark Tower. And see if we can get someone on the inside. We need to find that journal." They might not be able to locate the girl, but her brother was an easy target. Infiltrating the tower might be a feat, Stark had an impressive background check for all employees, but it was better than chasing the ghost that was the asset and the girl. Perhaps they'd be lucky enough that none of them had realized the journal was there, or at the least hadn't realized its importance.

…

With the boys, and Natasha's focus on Hydra, Pepper had little to distract her from Anna's absence. It's not as though she was used to having her around the tower, seeing as she lived in DC. However, Pepper was used to at least knowing where she was, being able to contact her, and knowing she was safe. Work only went so far to distract her, which was how Pepper ended up in Anna's room late one night. Though Anna spent most of her nights with James, her stuff had been stored in her room, how little of it there was.

Sitting in the center of Anna's bed with a glass of red wine, Pepper simply took in her surroundings. It had been designed by Anna, and that fact was obvious to Pepper where Anna's touches were. The walls were a calming light blue, with a picture frame collage of family pictures hung above the dresser. The bed was a queen, instead of the King Tony had wanted to put in there, with a pale yellow bedspread. Anna had always been partial to yellow.

There were other unintentional touches that were completely Anna. The nail polish stain on the rug by the bathroom, which Anna had refused Tony's offer to replace the carpeting. The scuff marks on the wall by her bed from her medical books falling off to the side when Anna would fall asleep studying. The room was as close to having Anna there as Pepper could get.

Even the dirty clothes crumpled into the corner, which would normally cause Pepper to roll her eyes, had her feel a pang of sentimentality. Not enough, though, for her to ignore it forever and let it sit there. Somewhere in the small pile were the clothes Anna had worn when they'd brought her back from Hydra. Pepper wanted nothing more to burn those clothes. Instead, she threw them into the laundry basket she pulled beside her. It wasn't until she'd gotten all the clothes into the basket that she noticed the small notebook that had fallen out of one of the pockets. Pepper didn't understand all the terminology on the pages, as it was obviously a research notebook of Anna's. Still, it was a piece of Anna, even if she didn't understand everything in it. Slipping it into her pants pockets so she could pull it out whenever she needed reminder of Anna, Pepper grabbed her wine and the laundry basket and left the room.

* * *

 _ **A/N sorry for my long long long long long hiatus. I never intended to be gone that long. I apologize. Captain America Civil War is coming out soon and I am super nervous and not emotionally ready for it at all! And I am officially upset with my characters because whenever I see posts on tumblr or pinterest about Black Widow and Bucky especially with pictures I get like a heart wrenching feeling and start yelling in my head 'NO NO NO. HE IS WITH ANYA. JANYA FOR EVER' then I realize that Janya isn't canon and Anya doesn't really exist in the marvel universe. I've gone over the deep end I know. But I just can't deal with the idea of James/Bucky with anyone else. Anyways let me know what you think! I hope you all enjoyed it.**_

 _ **Rach**_

 _ **xoxo**_

 **Guest Review Responses**

 **Victoria: I'm so glad you've read through rehabilitate to now. And that you're loving it. Sorry this chapter took so long! I hope it was semi-worth the wait.**

 **Jo: always happy to hear that people enjoy my writing. Hope you loved this installment just as much.**

 **Sam: Everything's fi1 ne. I finally am able to say I passed my Board Exam and am looking for work as a licensed Pharmacist. I'm glad you enjoyed the fight between James and Anya. I agree, it adds to the realism of their relationship. And I am honored you read the authors note and not only that but mentioned liking it in your review! As for your questions I'll try my best to answer them. A) I'm no expert on the morals in the forties, but I would believe sex before marriage is frowned upon and if you partook in it, yes it would most definitely lead to marriage. James started out in Rehabilitate having some forties morals in that sense, but eventually he rolled with Anna's flow when it came to their relationship. After being in the red room in Russia and going on missions he doesn't hold the moral of girls not really being fighters has been stamped out of him. I'll keep this question in mind for later if I think of any forties morals he encompasses. B) I'll do my best to put a wedding in there somewhere. I enjoy happy endings. I haven't set my mind on an ending for this yet. C) You're going with some inception line of thinking. Her memories from her time at Hydra are sprinkled with truth and with bits Hydra wanted her to think. She's trying to pick them apart and figure out the truth in there. I hope this story does get better and I don't disappoint you or any of the other readers. Thanks for the review! Xoxo**

 **Anon: Sorry I didn't get an update for Christmas or New Years, or Easter. But you're getting one near Mothers Day. Yayy. Lol Hope you enjoyed it!**

 **JB: Wow, I'm so glad you like my writing style. And that it makes you look forward to Cap and Emily's story. I'm looking forward to writing it. And wow thanks for the complement of me being the best writers you've had the pleasure to read. That means so very much. Xoxo**

 **Batman101: I'm loving the compliments. I'm so happy you like my stories. I updated the x rated scenes in the oneshots on my page, in case you haven't seen them yet. I am honored you feel I write Bucky/James well. I hope I keep writing him well.**

 **Guest who said she just binge read my two stories and neeeeeeds more. I'm glad you're loving the storyline. And that you feel I'm consistent. I'm happy to hear I've kept the story consistent through this journey of writing. And I did make Anya and Anna switch between povs to help readers better grasp whos pov its from. I'm glad you like that. Hope you enjoyed this installment.**

 **To the Guest who said I have to continue the stories and Janya is my life at the moment: Aw I'm so glad you're loving the stories. I hope you still are and that you don't give up on me.**

 **HaHa girl: I am going to finish this story. I've been dealing with some life speed bumps but here's the update.**


	16. Chapter 16

Relentless Chapter 16

 **IMPORTANT QUESTIONS FOR READERS IN AUTHORS NOTE! Enjoy :)**

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Sweat dripped into Anna's eyes as she fought against her sore muscles and sent a hook towards James' face as hard as she could muster. They'd been sparring for the last hour, and her whole body was screaming in protest. Worse was there was no end in sight. Her form was a little sloppy by that point, though her aim was accurate. However, before she made contact with skin, James had her arm twisted and pinned behind her, turning her to face the wall of windows. He didn't twist enough to make it painful, but it was impossible to slip out of.

"You're doing much better," James commented, releasing his grip on Anna as he raised his arms back up in a guard position. "Let's go again."

"No," Anna responded defiantly. Sparring seemed pointless when she not only always lost, but only got a hit in by accident. All she felt after their hour session was weak, and tired. She was sweaty, achy, and out of breath, while James looked as if he had taken a brisk walk at most. She'd have to be delusional to think a few training sessions would make her capable of being anything more than a short distraction. Even if she had months or a year she'd never be a match for enhanced people, or even human agents who have been training for five years minimum. Maybe she could take out a mugger, but not professionally trained hit men.

"Hydra won't stop when you're tired," James added, trying to coax Anya to train a little longer. There was no telling how long he'd be able to train her before the real thing came for them. He had to make do with what time they had.

"At this point my body feels like it's dying anyways," Anna quipped back harshly. When it came down to it, in a real life or death scenario, Anna would be working on adrenaline. Her pain wouldn't even be received by her brain. Being pinned time and time again to the floor by James was entirely different than a life or death situation. At times it felt somewhat intimate, until he'd tell her to go again and she had time to process every ache and pain. "If we don't stop, I won't be able to move tomorrow. With our luck Hydra will come for us and I'll be even more useless than normal."

"You're not useless," James responded, astonished that Anya could ever think that. Anya was smart, resourceful, and a freaking doctor. Without her help mending his wounds it would have been a Hell of a lot harder to survive after DC. Not to mention the progress he'd had with his memories since meeting her.

"In this situation I am. I am in way over my head with this off the grid spy waging war against a corrupt, dangerous, and criminal organization stuff." Slumping on the floor, Anna leaned her head on her knees. It only had her back muscles aching in response, proving just how true her statement was. "You'd be better off with Steve, or Clint, or Natasha. Any of the Avengers really."

"Having two people specialized in all the same things on a team is unnecessary. You have different, necessary skills. I wouldn't want anyone else here with me, on my team." His answer had Anya lifting her head off her knees, glancing up at him with a small smile that had his heart stuttering. Reaching down, James pulled Anya to her feet, and into his arms.

When James began kneading the knots her back muscles had tangled themselves into, Anna could help but let out a moan of both pain and release. It was mostly muffled by his chest, as she'd subconsciously rested her head against him when he pulled her into the hug. Letting him continue his work on her back, Anna wrapped her arms loosely around his waist. Eventually she forced herself to step back. They had more important things to do than massages. If her body couldn't take more sparring, then she'd get in some target practice outside. As much as she wanted to collapse on the bed and sleep for the next week, or sink into a hot tub, she wanted a future free from their enemies more.

…

"If it is bothering you so much not knowing where young Anna Banana is, I can have Heimdall locate her," Thor offered. He hadn't known what to expect when he returned to Midgard, but among the things Hydra was after he had not thought Tony's sister would be on that list. She was puny, even for a human.

"As tempting as that is, finding Anna won't solve the problem. We need to focus on Hydra. They have Loki's staff, making them the Avenger's first priority." Hydra having Alien artifacts in their possession was very bad. Possible end of the free world bad. Though Tony didn't completely understand the power of the staff and all of its capabilities, what he did know was bad enough.

"You have matured in my absence, Tony," Thor responded, impressed by Tony's sense of duty and honor to the civilians of the world as a whole, not only his family.

"Once we find it I am going to stab every Hydra agent that had anything to do with Anna in the balls with it," Tony added, making Thor rethink his previous comment.

"A lot's happened while you were gone," Bruce chimed in on Tony's behalf. "Hydra crossed the line repeatedly with Anna."

"And now she is in hiding with a former Hydra assassin. I have given up trying to understand the workings of Midgardian logic. I am here to help defend Midgard from the power of the staff in enemy hands." He'd been filled in by his fellow Avengers on the past months he'd missed. How Anna was kidnapped twice and had her brain messed with, needing surgery to remedy it. The fact that she'd taken in the Hydra Assassin like a stray puppy, as Tony had described it, and then fallen in love with him was what had taken him the longest to process. Little Anna falling for a reformed Hydra henchman didn't compute well.

"We missed you too Fabio," Tony commented dryly.

"Tony, there's something you need to see," Pepper interrupted the Avenger meeting. They'd commandeered the conference room. In fact, it was the first time Pepper actually saw Tony awake and participating in a conversation in that room. "I found this in Anna's room a few days ago. I thought it was just a random notebook from her VA days, but I'm pretty sure I was wrong."

Pepper didn't understand all the scientific jargon, but the doodles of Hydra's symbol on one of the corners obviously meant it wasn't from her days at the hospital. Which meant there could be pertinent information about whatever Hydra had her working on. Setting the journal before Tony, Pepper opened to the dog eared page with the Hydra doodle. He only looked at it for a few minutes before snatching it up and telling Bruce to accompany him to the lab. They had equations to go through and Anna's abbreviations to decipher. He had some of her research notes from med school for reference in the lab.

…

"You always make this look easy," Anna muttered as she reloaded her revolver. She'd managed to graduate to moving targets, a fact that only offered her momentary pride. In plain terms, she sucked. She'd shoot just as accurate if she was blind.

"That's partly from training, partly from the experiments," James admitted, smiling at the exasperated huff Anya let out when she missed the next plate he'd tossed for her. "If it's any consolation you make it look sexy."

Anna highly doubted that. Her hair was a mess from training earlier, and though she wasn't exerting much physical effort, she was still sweating a little from the stress. Nothing about that seemed remotely attractive to her. She wasn't exactly confident with the weapon yet. Perhaps she'd had more when she was hitting stationary targets, but since they'd moved on and up to harder targets her confidence was waning. At least she no longer flinched when she pulled the trigger.

"Well, my body feels like crap. My shoulder hurts from shooting, and everything else hurts from sparring. I think it's time we come up with a plan B," Anna admitted, saying aloud what she'd been thinking for days. "The radio hasn't picked up much more than broadcasts from Canada and static noise. We need another way to track down Rumlow or Rollins before they track us down first."

Anya was right, though he'd already come up with a plan B. The problem was finding the right way to bring it up to her. She was definitely not going to like it. He needed to do some physical reconnaissance, dig back into the underground contacts to find out what Hydra, what Rollins was up to. The radio was his last hope of finding answers in the safety of the cabin. Meaning any other plan would be a solo mission.

"If by solo, you mean I go with you, then okay. You said it yourself, we're a team." James cursed Anya for using his previous words of support against him.

"Any targets will be moving targets," James countered, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

"And they'll be bigger than flying plates. I'm coming with you." There was no argument James could use that would convince or force Anna to stay behind. He had said it himself, she had different, necessary skills. Skills that might not include fighting, but encompassed more than patching up wounds. She was fairly good at distracting people, talking until she confused or convinced them to agree. Although sometimes it just pissed people off instead.

"You're just as bad as Steve was." Steve had insisted on doing reckless things for people he cared about. Hell even for people he didn't even know. Now that Steve could take care of himself, James had Anya to worry about.

The two left the mountains after night had fallen. Anna had braided back her freshly hair to keep it out of her face and dressed in dark colors as per James' directions. She had to borrow one of the extra black tees of James that had been in the backpack to pair with her dark jeans, as all her shirts were too bright for James'. Out of habit, Anna fiddled with the knife in her hands as they drove past miles of trees. It was hard to control her nerves at the unknown. James' hand reaching out to still her movement had her smiling. He still didn't like fidgeting, just like that first day in the cafeteria in DC. Tangling her fingers with his, Anna kept his hand in her lap, tracing his skin with her thumb.

They'd been driving for hours before they stopped outside of a warehouse that looked sketchy even without the lot full of trucks and motorcycles with men who looked like they took pride in how much jail time they did. As they parked, a fight was breaking out between a tattooed biker with hair as long as his beard and one of the truckers. A chill ran up Anna's spine a thousand times stronger than any she'd gotten walking home late in DC. This place was on a whole other level than the back alleys of DC.

"Before we go in there's some ground rules I really need you to follow," James insisted, framing Anya's face with his hands and staring her down so she'd understand how serious he was. One wrong move could kill them. "Stay close to me, avoid eye contact, and don't say anything. Anyone here wouldn't hesitate to kill you."

James was extremely thankful that Anya was wearing his shirt. It was baggy on her, hiding her figure, which would hopefully cut back on the attention she would receive. It also effectively hid the gun that was holstered to her hip. The last thing he needed was for people to know she was packing. For one, it might insight a challenge. Now if one came about, she'd at least have the element of surprise.

Pressing her hands against her thighs in an attempt to stop them from trembling, Anna followed close to James as he led the way towards the building. She could feel the eyes of the men on them, and was relieved when they reached the metal doors. Although the atmosphere inside wasn't exactly calming. Rowdy crowds of people were cheering around multiple cages, inside of which people were beating each other bloody. It didn't take long for Anna to avert here gaze, not caring to witness the violence.

Weaving their way through the crowd, James eventually stopped in front of a door guarded by a man with scar that ran from his forehead, across his eye, to his chin. When he turned his eyes on her, Anna immediate dropped her gaze to her feet, her hands sweating as she prayed that one look wouldn't screw everything up. James and the man exchanged a few words in Russian that had the man allowing them entrance into an office. Security feeds had each game playing on a separate screen as the man behind the desk watched on from his desk. Thankfully he spoke in English, even if it was with an accent.

"It's been a long time Soldier," he greeted James before his eyes strayed to Anna. James quickly took a step to the side, blocking the man's view, and subsequently Anna's as well.

"I need the location of a Hydra Unit Lead by Jack Rollins. You know anything?" That was certainly straight to the point. But maybe that's how those types of things normally went down. Anna wasn't accustomed to anything they were doing tonight.

"I might know something, but it won't come cheap," the man responded. Anna heard a thud that she assumed were his shoes falling from his desk to the floor. "I recently lost some fighters. I need someone to take their places tonight. If you fight, and win me the money I would have lost, I will tell you what I know."

"Deal," James answered without hesitation, shaking on it. It seemed like a shady deal to Anna. They didn't even know if the man knew anything. He promised to tell what he knew, without confirming it was anything. It was all happening too fast. The man led them back through the crowd to the center cage, where the last fight was winding down. They were finally left alone, or as alone as they could be surrounded by spectators cheering on whoever was in the cage, when the man went to get tape for James' right hand.

"I don't like this," Anna commented, trying hard not to panic. James was a super soldier with a bionic arm. There was no way he couldn't win. "You just have to win, right?" The look James gave her at her question had her heart sinking.

"He's not betting on me. I'm not supposed to win," James muttered under his breath to ensure none of the people around them overheard. The only way for Max to get enough money from his fight to buy them answers, James had to throw the fight. Of course, he had to make it look good. The bloodier the fight, the deeper the pot. And most of that pot will be pulled in his favor. Max would win a fortune on him when he took a beating.

"I hate this," Anna amended her previous statement. Her nerves and heart were all tangled up as she watched James walk into the cage. His walk was filled with the confidence and lethality of the Winter Soldier, but that didn't sooth her worries. He was playing it up for the crowd, but he was going to lose and it was going to hurt both of them. Though James had the ragged soldier look down, his opponent was obviously familiar with the cage with his scars and bruises. He'd been in the cage multiple times, he knew how to inflict pain on his opponents and James would have to take it even when he was capable of fighting back.

It was easier to watch the beginning, when James put his effort into actually fighting. Once he starting holding back, moving the effort into being beaten instead of winning Anna had a harder time making herself look. Flinching at every hit he took, Anna's heart clenched as James' opponent drew blood. A hard hit to the cheek had a cut dripping blood down the side of James' face. The crowd moved closer, making Anna feel all the more claustrophobic as she was pressed up against the cage. It forced her to grip the wire of the cage to keep her face from being smashed against it. There would be no looking away now.

James had to keep mentally reminding himself to hold back and not finish his opponent off with a few well-placed hits. This fight was about winning through losing, but damn was it hard not to pummel the guy when letting him pin him ended up dislocating his shoulder. Of course when his opponent realized that he sent multiple hits to his sore shoulder, causing James to fall to his knees. At that point there was a fresh cut on his forehead and the blood from it was making it impossible to see out of his right eye.

Anna felt as if she was going to throw up by the time the fight ended. Along with the cuts that were still bleeding, James' shoulder was dislocated at some point, and she was pretty sure he had at least one bruised rib. Even though he healed faster, it still hurt her to see him in pain like that. As soon as the fight was called, Anna was shoving her way through the crowd until she got to the cage door.

"Don't even think about moving before I see if anything is broken," Anna ordered when James started trying to rise from the floor. She'd fallen to her knees beside him as soon as she'd gotten the door open. As quickly as she could, Anna maneuvered his legs and palpitated his chest while avoiding his dislocated arm. It was a poor substitute for an x-ray, but they couldn't really risk going anywhere public that didn't consist of underground fight rings. Hopefully someone had a good first aid kit there.

Ignoring the fire each step sent as it jostled his arm and ribs, James stumbled out of the cage and lead the way to the back office. Max owed him some damn good answers. Anya's eyes seemed to still be assessing his injuries even as they were ushered into the office, ordering the watchman to get her a first aid kit. She seemed so sure he'd do as she said it almost made him smile. When the man actually complied James had to try hard to fight back his smile. He needed to keep up his image to get the info they needed and get them out of there.

Anna only got James' shoulder back into its socket before the man who supposedly had answers returned. Following James' body language, Anna took a seat beside him instead of tending to his other wounds like she wanted. It was obvious that, for James, answers came before his health. He wouldn't have risked it if they didn't.

"I must say, you held up your side of the deal fantastically," Max smiled widely at the Soldier, whose face was half covered in blood. He'd made more money on his match than all the others tonight combined.

"Time for you to return the favor," James retorted, not wanting to waste the time it'd take to beat around the bush.

"I know they are looking for you. And her," Max answered, nodding his head in Anya's direction, causing James to grip his chair with his metal hand. "But you're very good at keeping a low profile. The Red Room trained you well. They probably wouldn't have found you if you didn't come here. Not that I blame you. You were desperate."

Anger burned its way through James, aimed only at himself and his stupidity. The fight was just a diversion, a stalling method. Hydra was already coming for them, and James wasn't in any condition to fight off a whole tact team. Ignoring the pain radiating from his ribs and shoulder, James launched himself at the only bodyguard in the room, choking the life out of him with his metal arm before turning towards Max. He was going to tell James how to get out of there, and then he was going to die too.

"Not another step. Hydra wants her dead anyways, doesn't matter if she already is before they get here," Max state calmly as he tightened his arm around Anya's neck. His hand was poised on the side of her head, ready to snap her neck should James attempt anything. His only mistake was underestimating the girl he had in the choke hold. Though he quickly realized that when he had a knife shoved through his arm, causing him to scream in pain and release his grip on Anya. He didn't stifle his pain until Anya had her gun pressed to the side of his head. Unlike when she'd done it to the Hydra agent back in the alley beside the museum in DC, her hand wasn't shaking.

"How long until they get here?" James ordered as he stared down Max. The confidence had drained from him and he almost looked like he was going to piss himself.

"Ten minutes, tops," Max whispered, knowing exactly what was going to happen once he answered. There was no scenario where he made it out of there alive. Walking steadily towards Anya, James took the gun from her hands. She might be more comfortable holding a gun, but he couldn't let her have blood on her hands. He would keep her innocent for as long as he could.

"Look away Anya," he murmured, causing Anya to press her face into his back. Satisfied she wouldn't have to witness it, James kept eye contact with Max as he pulled the trigger. He'd already proved where his loyalties lied, and James couldn't risk Max telling Hydra anything about them or his injuries.

"We need to move, now," James insisted, pulling the knife from Max's arm. In case they couldn't make it back to the mountain, they would need all the weapons they could get. Grabbing the first aid kit, Anna followed James out the back of the warehouse where they kept to the shadows. James stayed alert as they made their way to the parking lot, knowing they were shit out of luck if Hydra got to them before they reached the car.

By some miracle they made it to the piece of junk car as four black SUVs skidded into the gravel lot. Sparking the cut wires until the engine started again, James eased the car towards the highway, hoping to slip away without drawing attention to them. That plan was shot to Hell when one of the agents exiting the first SUV called out, pointing at their car. Before the second SUV could react, James was flooring it, swerving onto the highway and urging the car to go faster in Russian.

A sense of Déjà vu hit Anna hard at the sound of bullets hitting the bumper, then shattering the back window. Peaking around her headrest, the streetlights reflected off the rifle steadied against the side mirror of the car that was rapidly gaining on them. Another shot rang out and James yelled at her to stay down as he swerved between the two lanes.

Ignoring James, Anna reached for James' rifle stashed on the passenger side floor. She'd never shot anything bigger than a handgun, but if they could just blow out one of the SUV's tires they could pull ahead. Steadying the gun on the back of her seat, Anna peered down the scope, attempting at lining up her shot. Estimating the shot, Anna pulled the trigger, hoping she hit something important on the car. She'd just ducked back behind the seat when another bulled went flying through the space between her and James.

"Damn it Anya, I told you to stay down," James shouted. "While you're shooting at their car, their shooting at your head. And they've got much better aim." Instead of hitting their tire, she'd shot out their headlight. Not near as damaging or beneficial. Even if it had blown out their tire, it wouldn't be worth Anya risking her life.

"I was just trying to help," Anna murmured, turning in her seat so she was facing the front again. "The whole point of this excursion was to find Hydra and take them out."

"Taking them out would require having the upper hand, having time to prepare. We're in no position for either." Max just had to rat them out. James figured after everything Hydra had taken from Max that they were the last organization he'd want to help out.

"I don't think outrunning them is really an option either," Anna responded softly as she saw the SUV zooming up closer in the mirror.

"I know," James muttered grimly, his brain working to figure something out while his left eye scanned their surroundings. His right one was glued shut from blood. It was the bridge before them that gave him an idea. "Roll down your window and get ready to hold your breath," James instructed as he slammed his foot on the gas.

"Are you insane?" Anna cried out when she realized what the plan was. Knowing she didn't have time to negotiate or get an answer, Anna cranked the window down, gripping the arm rest tightly with one hand, and hugging the first aid kit to her chest with the other. If they managed to survive this, they'd definitely need it.

* * *

 _A/N: Hello my lovelies! I didn't wait ten years to post this time yay! I recently saw Civil War and it was EPIC I want to have it on DVD already. Anyways it's rekindled my inspiration._ _ **I have a dilemma**_ _now with_ _ **the story**_ _seeing as it_ _ **doesn't quite fit with the current Civil War plot.**_ _Mainly because_ _ **Tony already knows about James killing his parents already in this fic.**_ _I have some options and I'd like all of your opinions._ _ **I could rewrite the chapter where it states Tony knows about his parent's and have everyone keep tony in the dark in my fic so it can follow the current civil war plot. Or I could tweak the civil war plot slightly to make it some other revelation that has that tragically horrible to watch fight scene occur. I have a couple half thought out plots for that way.**_ _I also need opinions on if I_ _ **should write through Avengers Age of Ultron or kind of gloss over it with a time jump and go to Civil War timeline?**_ _Please let me know which you guys would prefer because I'm thoughtful like that and will probably do what you guys want most seeing as I don't have a full plotline mapped out yet. If I change the Civil War plot around I may still do one shots of Janya in the AU where the plot isn't changed._

 _ **Also, I wrote a one shot of Janya in Civil War where it follows an AU where Anna is in it. I'm not sure if that scene will be in the endgame of this story as I'm still working to fit Civil War into this story. Check out my profile to get to the one shot if you're interested.**_

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_

 _Guest Review Responses_

 _Helena: I'm so glad you enjoyed the last chapter. Thanks for the words of reassurance, I did survive Civil War and I loved it. :)_

 _GuestlovesJanya: I love that guest user name ^_^ It makes me smile. I'm glad you're loving the story. Thank you for saying it's one of the best stories you've read on here. It means a lot. I kind of picture Anna as a Sai Bennet with longer hair. But her physical inspiration came from a random Pinterest picture of someone who isn't famous and which I use in some of my pins on my Pinterest page Rehabilitate. Hope that helps! I'd love to hear how you picture her or who you picture her as! Thanks for the review!_

 _To the guest who binged on both of my Bucky stories with no regrets: YAY! So happy you like my writing, and characterization. I work hard on characterization and try to keep it as real with the MCU as possible._

 _Sam: As my author's note state I have seen Civil War and I LOVED it. It's inspired me to write more obviously. I understand why they're putting Bucky into hibernation, but it still hurt. Steve just got his best friend back. It is a HUGE compliment that you feel I handled Bucky better than the film. I know the film is canon, and usually people prefer canon, so the fact that you kind of prefer how I've written Bucky means more than I can express in words. Hope you keep liking the updates and let me know your opinions on the above bolded sections!_

 _Chiquita: I'm glad that Civil War brought us both back to this story (and that you reread a lot of it. That is really saying something, that you enjoyed it enough to reread what you've already read. It's what every writer strives to accomplish) Thank you for all the compliments! And if you dream about writing fanfiction go for it! You don't need to map everything out or have the ending plan (I almost never do when I write. I sort of fill in the plot as I go. I may brainstorm a little at night but I never meticulously map out every little detail). Don't let anyone or anything hold you back from writing. Some people might write mean reviews, but sometimes critiques help you grow. Hope you enjoyed this update and hearing you ship Janya, low-key or shouting it from the roofs, makes me so happy._

 _BeccaSco: I know you reviewed on Civil War one shot, but I'm responding here on the off chance you read this too. I'm not sure when the next Civil War one shot will be posted and I wanted to respond to ya. Thank you for your review and I'm soooo happy you enjoyed my take on the one shot scene. I concur Civil War was difficult to watch at times, especially the fact that everyone is still torn apart at the end._

 _Liselye: Merci Beacoup! I'm not going to butcher your beautiful language too much with more of my rusty high school French. Je ne parle pas tres bien Francais. (sorry if I'm butchering it grammatically or spelling wise). Thank you so much for your wonderful review of Civil War one shot. I am definitely planning future one shots! I'm so awed that you stuck with my story, not written in your native language, enough to be invested. I can't imagine reading a story in another language and understanding it enough to know what's going on, let alone get invested in it. I take pride in the relationships (romantic and platonic) that I've built and I'm so glad you appreciate them. And your compliments about me keeping the MCU characters in character just makes my day. I try hard to keep them as canon as possible with their personalities. I am not giving up on this story, don't worry. I know you had questions about how I will progress this story into the Civil War plot line, and I actually have a few options floating around my mind (see above authors note). Let me know what your opinions are! J'adore mon ami de Francais!_


	17. Chapter 17

Relentless Chapter 17

" _ **My hands, your hands, tied up like two ships. Drifting, weightless, waves try to break it. I'd do anything to save it…My heart, your heart, sit tight like book ends. Pages between us written with no end…You make me strong." One Direction Strong**_

Water filled the car faster than Anna thought possible. She managed to suck down a good amount of oxygen and hold her breath before it went above her head. Before she could push herself out of the window, James' arm was pulling her back. She didn't understand why he'd prevent her from going to the surface until bullets began whizzing through the water. A couple hit the car, slowing them down further and letting Anna really see each bullet that barely missed her. James still didn't let go of her when the bullets stopped raining down. By that time her lungs felt like they were burning with the need for oxygen.

When James finally released his grip, Anna pushed herself out of the window and up to the surface. The first aid kit weighed her down a bit, but she kept her grip on it. Breaking through to the surface, Anna gasped, inhaling as much oxygen as she could and choking when water came with it. James was beside her before she could even think about which way she should be swimming.

"Swim under the bridge until we get to shore. Hydra needs to think we're dead," James instructed, herding Anya to the left until the shadow of the bridge covered them. The only way out of their situation was to stage their death. Hydra wasn't going to stop until they were dead, and now he could finally have the element of surprise next time.

"You're bleeding," James pointed out, fear taking over as he saw the red liquid dripping from a pretty big cut on Anya's forehead. It must have happened when her head hit the dashboard as they went over.

"So are you. There's nothing we can do about it until we get to shore," Anna retorted. She'd been so focused on breathing and then getting below the bridge she hadn't noticed the sharp pain radiating from her forehead. Not to mention the warm trail of liquid dripping down the bridge of her nose. There was no ignoring it now.

It was slow going making it to shore. James' freshly relocated shoulder as well as his other injuries slowed him down and prevented him being able to help Anya. Each stroke was painful, but James was no stranger to pain. When they finally collapsed on the muddy bank, he wanted to tend to Anya's injuries first, and of course she wanted to treat his first.

Though the lake water had rinsed away some of the blood, it had also prevented James' cuts from clotting. Seeing as he'd been losing blood for a longer period of time, Anna thought it was more prudent to heal him first. Flipping open the case, Anna prayed the kit wasn't completely water logged. It seemed they weren't completely out of luck, as the inside only had a few drops of water, and most of the necessary items were in sealed plastic bags. Pulling the disinfectant wipes from their pouch, Anna began wiping up the remaining blood on James face then used fresh ones to clean James' cuts.

It took thirty stitches between them to stitch up their cuts. There was no pain medication stronger than Advil and no numbing agents, so they had to grit their teeth against the pinprick of the needle and the tug of thread stitching their skin together again. James felt completely out of his comfort zone when he was sewing Anya's forehead closed. He hated causing Anya pain, and he was torn between doing a good job, and just getting it over with as quickly as possible. No matter how careful he was, his basic stitching skills were bound to leave Anya with a scar.

"What now?" Anna questioned, feeling a little defeated. Their stolen car was totaled when James launched it off the bridge with them in it in order to escape Hydra. Now they were wet, injured, and without transportation.

"We need to put as much distance between Rollin's unit and us as possible. They will sweep the area for signs of our bodies. It will be bad news if they find us alive. We have about two days until our bodies would naturally wash up on shore, meaning only 48 hours to get so deep underground even Hydra can't find us." They needed to get out of state. Hell, it'd be best to get out of the country. Both would require stealing a mode of transportation, clothes, and weapons. For now they just needed to start walking in the opposite direction of the highway so Hydra wouldn't find them.

Anna fell into step with James as he started towards the trees bordering the lake. She had no idea where they were, or where they were going, just that they had to keep moving. It was over two hours until they came across a road, and another four hours of walking along it until they came across a shopping center off the highway. They ended up hitting up an independent clothing store. With a flick of his left wrist James had the back door swinging open. As much as Anna hated the idea of stealing, they didn't exactly have any other options. Their clothes were still wet, and what was left of their money was at the bottom of the lake with their stolen car. They couldn't be seen wearing the same clothes as when they disappeared. Hydra would look for that. Still it was a small business. It felt worse to steal from a small business.

"There's no security cameras in here, just out front," James responded to Anya's guilty questions. It greatly decreased their chances of being seen and recognized by hitting up a small business. When she nodded in acknowledgement, he headed towards the men's section. The faster they got what they needed and left, the better.

Anna felt completely lost as she flicked through the racks of clothing. James had packed her last on the run wardrobe. She supposed darker colors would be best, nothing too bright or showy that might draw attention. Which also probably meant nothing form fitting either. Pulling a navy and white striped tee from a clearance rack, thinking at least the store would only lose ten bucks instead of twenty, Anna paired it with a long sleeved navy and maroon plaid shirt that was a little big on. She had to move away from the clearance rack to find jeans in her size. Grabbing socks, underwear, and black sneakers that were closest to her size, Anna retreated to one of the two dressing areas. Unfortunately the store didn't carry lingerie, meaning the best she could do was press the water from her bra. Overall it was a lot more comfortable with dry clothes.

Gathering up her wet clothes, Anna exited the tiny changing area to find James waiting for her. It wasn't a proven theory yet, but Anna was pretty sure he could make anything look about a thousand times sexier. Like her, he'd opted for layers with a dark tee under a v-neck burgundy shirt, brown hoodie and jacket. Before Anna could say anything, James was handing her a jacket, baseball cap, and leather gloves. It wasn't until then that she realized he'd covered his own hands with leather gloves again.

"You are aware winter is months away?" Anna asked as she cradled the jacket in her free arm and held up the gloves with a questioning look.

"We have to prepare for any inclement weather. And the gloves are to prevent leaving any fingerprints in the future," James responded as he shouldered the backpack he'd found in the back by the purses. It only had a spare shirt for each of them and a couple of extra pair of underwear. He didn't want to take too much. The less they carried the easier they could travel, and the less they took, the less likely the owners would notice and report the stolen merchandise.

"Were you planning on going to Maine?" Anna joked as they ditched their wet clothes in the back dumpster.

"I was thinking Europe." Staying within the United States was too predictable. If he could get them out of the country without being seen by cameras or security, their chance at survival rose exponentially.

"How are we supposed to leave the country with no IDs, no plane ticket, and no money?" It was only Anna's second time going dark, and her first time faking her death, so she had no idea how those sort of things worked. Any travel she'd done had been legally.

"Sometimes I forget how innocent you are," James murmured with a slight frown. He was the reason Anya had to adapt to a murkier set of morals, another crime to add to the list.

"No matter what happens, or what I have to do to make sure we survive, I don't regret meeting you, following you, or loving you. So stop blaming yourself for corrupting me, or whatever it is you're blaming yourself for," Anna insisted, reaching up to smooth out the creases in James' forehead. She'd give anything to have James believe that none of this was his fault.

"I don't deserve you," James mumbled in response, kissing the palm of Anya's hand before entwining her fingers with his. Even if it was a sin, he was never letting Anya go. His redemption would be to keep her safe, no matter the cost.

Anna simply shook her head at James' statement before following him back down the alley and towards the highway. Once they nicked a map and some snacks from a gas station, they kept away from the road. They rested for a few hours in the woods, Anna leaning against James, James leaning against a tree. Pulling the first aid kit she'd stored in the backpack, Anna applied antibacterial cream and taped fresh gauze over James' stitches and her own to limit their contact with dirt. Once their wounds were covered, they continued walking east. James didn't want to steal a car yet. It would be too conspicuous so soon after their disappearance. Hydra would be looking for something like a police report of a stolen car.

Leaving the navigating to James, Anna was perfectly fine to follow his lead. She couldn't always keep pace with him, her legs not used to so much exertion and her lungs retaliating against the humidity, but the view from a few steps behind wasn't a bad one. The worst part about walking so far was the blisters that inevitably formed from where her feet rubbed against the new sneakers. Or maybe it was the way it made Anna's legs feel like they would collapse if she stopped moving, as though sheer momentum was allowing her limbs to support her.

When they finally hotwired a car what felt like a thousand miles later, Anna collapsed in the passenger side and passed out in a matter of minutes. It was dark once again when Anna finally stirred from her sleep. Blinking away her disorientation, a pang of guilt hit her hard when she realized they were still moving. James had to be every bit as exhausted as she was, and he hadn't gotten any relief. Not that Anna could offer him much. She still didn't know how to drive, and she didn't suppose learning while on the run and in a stolen car was the most opportune time.

"How long was I out," Anna rasped out, her throat dry from sleeping. Upon discovering she'd been sleeping for 13 hours, she murmured an apology that was immediately brushed off by James.

"We're almost there. We just need to stop and stock up on some provisions," James commented as he switched lanes and took the next exit.

Anna didn't know where 'there' was, and she didn't have time to ask as James pulled to a stop behind a closed food market. Taking the backpack with him, he ordered her to stay put and to either duck down or run if she saw anything suspicious. She knew he meant Hydra, but Anna couldn't help but think they were the ones acting suspicious by breaking into a supermarket.

Playing lookout proved to be incredibly boring. Nothing happened and no one showed up within the half hour it took James to grab food. That wasn't a bad thing, it just had her wishing she'd gone with James instead. She supposed it'd be less conspicuous if the security cameras only recorded a single perpetrator. Two thieves, one male and one female, would garner more attention from Hydra should they be scanning nearby police reports for signs of them.

"You want to tell me where we're headed now?" Anna asked when James returned, handing off the backpack to her that seemed to have tripled in volume.

"Connecticut," James answered as he eased them back onto the highway heading east.

"What's in Connecticut?" Anna inquired. Seeing as James hadn't had a place in mind when they left Stark Tower, she doubted if he just now remembered a secret underground bunker where they could hide out.

"A port where Cargo ships dock." There were many ways they could leave the country without being detected. The one that required the least amount of casualty's and the least chances of getting caught was stowing away on a cargo ship headed to Europe. They couldn't risk going back to New York City to get to a port, so they were going to Connecticut.

"You were serious about going to Europe?" Anna choked out.

"Seeing as the only Hydra unit that wants to execute you is in this country, yes. I'm putting as much distance between you and Rollin's unit as possible." He'd prefer to take out anyone who wanted to hurt Anya, but given the circumstances, hiding out until he could regroup and heal was the best option.

"If Rumlow had just died in the Triskelion there wouldn't be any Hydra unit interested in killing me. I wouldn't even be a dot on their radar," Anna grumbled. True she had been with Hydra before the Helicarrier incident, but she didn't know anything more than what Natasha leaked to the world. It wasn't until she was kidnapped and did research that she became a risk to Hydra.

Instead of responding verbally, James reached out for Anya's hand. The pain in his arm and shoulder at the movement was worth feeling her skin. He didn't have the words to comfort her. He didn't know whether everything would be okay. And he sure as Hell couldn't change the past. All he could do was be there for her.

…

"Tony?" Bruce murmured when he came across Tony staring at Anna's journal in his section of the lab in the early morning hours. Only his work lamp was on, and by the looks of his clothes he hadn't gone to bed.

"Do you know the last conversation I had with her?" Tony questioned as he set Anna's journal down. "We were fighting about her living arrangements. Another stupid pointless argument. And now she's gone and I just want to pull her into a hug and remind her that I love her."

"She knows you love her Tony," Bruce consoled, taking a seat at his own lab station beside Tony.

"That's what she always told me about dad. That he knew I loved him before he died. I was fighting during my last conversation with him as well." He always seemed to fight with the people he loved most. Anna was so much like their father, independent and strong willed. Just like Tony. The problem when he was younger was he didn't want to be like his father.

"Anna's not dead Tony," Bruce assured him, moving his hand to Tony's shoulder.

"You don't know that. She could be. She could die while she's running from Hydra. Just like they did." It was just like his parents. Hydra was after Anna Banana, his baby sister, and Hydra had a record of being persistent in achieving their goals. They'd already managed to murder his parents.

"She has James. He knows how Hydra works and he will protect her as long as he's breathing. And he's shown himself pretty capable of kicking serious Hydra hiney." Bruce's choice of using hiney instead of ass had Tony smirking, just as Bruce intended.

"He better not turn Anna Banana into a killer while they're on the run. She's the healer of the family. Took after mom in that way," Tony murmured, his laughter dying as he thought of Anna berating at him for killing a spider instead of putting it back outside. She'd been eight at the time. Even when, to her eight year old mind, it had posed a threat to her, she hadn't wanted him to hurt it. She insisted it had a spider family who loved it. He'd rolled his eyes at her at that time, but he loved how empathetic she was.

Bruce couldn't find words to reassure Tony that Anna wouldn't become a killer. People adapt to survive, even without a conscious effort to. Sometimes becoming something they never expected. He was living proof of that. No one can predict who Anna would become because of the situations she was and will be forced into.

…

It was a lot colder once they were out on the ocean. Anna had to admit James was right about the layers as she hugged her jacket tighter around her. It'd been a little over four hours since the cargo ship they stowed away on pulled away from port. The nausea had settled in a little under one hour. Apparently not only did Anna get air sick, but she also got sea sick. With no Dramamine she had to rely on deep breathing and intense concentration to prevent herself from hurling. James continued to rub her back soothingly which surprisingly helped ease the ill feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"How long until we reach land again?" Anna whispered, barely opening her mouth in case her gag reflexes kicked in.

"No less than a week, no more than two," James responded. He was mentally kicking himself for not thinking to pick up any of those little pills Steve had thrown to Anna for her issue with getting air sick. Of course if she got air sick she'd get sea sick. Steve would have remembered.

"Can you just knock me out until we get there?" Anya whimpered when another wave tilted the boat beneath them. It had James' heart physically hurting at the despair in Anya's voice. He hated the idea of her being miserable like that for any amount of time, let alone the days it would take to get off the boat.

"Give me your arms," James instructed after a few minutes, remembering something he'd read once.

"Is this a less painful way to make me lose consciousness?" Anna questioned when James pressed his thumbs against her arms two inches from her wrists, applying slight pressure.

"I'm not knocking you out. It's a pressure point that's supposed to help with motion sickness. Steve used to get nauseas on long car rides." Steve didn't have the coin to pay for motion sickness remedies, so James read up on different ways to help the nausea. It came in handy when they'd take road trips to the coast.

"I don't know what's better. The fact that you remember that. Or the fact that you researched pressure points and applied them for Steve," Anna responded with a smile. She could just picture the two in the backseat of one of their parent's cars with James gripping Steve's wrists to keep him from puking.

"I actually made a contraption out of rubber bands and buttons that would constantly apply pressure so we could still play cards," James corrected.

"Steve was right, you were a little science nerd," Anna chuckled. "Well I'm sure he appreciated it. I'm already feeling a little better." The fact she was able to smile and tease James was proof she was feeling better.

Anya fell asleep in James arms, his hands keeping the pressure points until her breathing steadied. He'd have to see if he could make something to keep the pressure from the items he grabbed from the grocery store. He didn't get much more than the necessities: prepackaged food that wouldn't go bad on the boat, wet wipes to replace the showers they couldn't take on the ocean as the boat only had a half bath they could access, bottled water, and mouthwash to replace toothbrushes for the time being. If he used the extra laces from his sneakers he might be able to finagle something.

He managed to tie the laces around Anya's wrists where he previously held them without waking her. After that he relaxed against the large shipping container, pulling Anya in closer to him until her head was just below his chin, and let the waves rocking the boat ease him into a light sleep. It was the first time he let himself fall asleep in days. For once they were completely safe from Hydra. The boat they were on was owned by a family business who had no contacts with Hydra, they hadn't been followed to the port and there was no way for Hydra to know where they were at that moment. James was fairly certain Hydra wouldn't be attacking them in the middle of the ocean.

* * *

 _A/N They're on the run, again. I really hope you all enjoyed the update and I can't wait to hear your thoughts on it. I also want to say thank you to all of you reading this even if you don't review. Both to new readers and ones that have been here since I started this. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my stories. :)_

 _10sBlueRose: You're Personal messaging was off so I couldn't respond via that way. I'm so happy you decided to review the story of the first time! I understand being caught up in the story and not wanting to stop to review. It actually means I've kept you on the edge of your seat which is a compliment in itself. I'm glad I could saw you with my OC/Bucky when you normally don't go for Original Characters with someone. That is huge for me. I hear you with the siblings don't always fight thing, and there will be more lovey moments in the future in between the fighting. They've just been in stressful situations lately where their opinions often differ and they take the I love you as being implied. I'm glad you like the little bit of Bucky calling Anna, Anya. I like it too. Bucky may end up cutting his hair and shaving in the future but if so not until the end of this story seeing as through civil war he has his long hair and beard. Steve and Bucky will definitely mend their relationship and become close again. They're already on the way before Bucky and Anna went into hiding. Don't apologize for long reviews, ever. I really enjoy reading reviews. Probably as much as you enjoy reading the chapters!_

 _To the Guest who doesn't want me to change this plot but tweak the civil war plot because they don't like it when Tony is mad at James: I haven't decided exactly what I'm doing with civil war yet. I have many ideas still bouncing around in my head. There's a chance Tony might still be mad at James, but it's not definite yet. Just giving you a bit of warning. I am so touched you think my story is better than civil war. That's huge._

 _FishyWeirdo: Thanks for answering all my questions! I appreciated the feedback. As I told the previous reviewer I haven't made any final plans. I'm still brainstorming how I want to input Anna in civil war and that will determine if I change Tony knowing in this story or if I continue with a different storyline. I agree, I am going to continue writing through Age of Ultron (it just might not be a whole thirty chapters on it) because I have been leading up to it so far with Thor arriving and the other points you made. I'm so glad to hear you are thoroughly enjoying my story even if you hadn't anticipated reading a marvel love story. Hope you liked this update as well!_

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	18. Chapter 18

Relentless Chapter 18

" _If I got locked away, and we lost it all today, tell me honestly would you still love me the same? If I showed you my flaws, if I couldn't be strong, tell my honestly would you still love me the same?" Locked Away R City ft. Adam Levine._

* * *

The cargo ship first reached dock in Rouen, France a week and a half later. James and Anna had to wait until nightfall before they could risk leaving the ship, and Anna felt like kissing the solid ground as soon as she planted her feet on it. She'd never complain about flying again. Flying had pillows, blankets, and only took 8 hours to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

"I've never been to France before," Anna admitted as they walked along the streets. The smell of warm croissants wafting from a nearby bakery as the door closed behind the people exiting had her stomach growling.

"I have," James murmured, continually glancing around for anything suspicious. "The City of Light has its share of darkness."

"That's one city. France is also seen as the country of love," Anna responded, giving James' hand a small squeeze. If only they were lovers on vacation, there to eat croissants and drive to Paris to see the Eifel Tower and other tourist attractions. But they didn't have a hotel reservation, or even money to book a last minute room. They had a backpack that had both of their meager possessions, which they stole, and would probably end up spending the night under a bridge or in an abandoned building. Still, she was in France with James, strolling down a cobbled street holding hands with the man she loved. And they weren't dead. There were always silver linings.

"How's your French?" James asked as he maneuvered Anya to his other side when they passed by the mouth of a dark alley. It had him reaching to his right leg for his holster, only to remember he didn't have any weapons on him. He'd have to remedy that as soon as possible. Remaining unarmed wasn't a good option.

"I can say broken phrases or words. Not very useful words. Mostly different foods and the standard hello, goodbye, my name is. I can count to twenty." Anna had taken French in high school, but hadn't continued the language after graduating. She was pretty rusty. "I can read more than I can speak. What about you?"

"It's not one of the languages the Soviets or Hydra deemed worthy to have me become fluent in." Only one mission had brought him to France, and taking out the target hadn't required knowing the language beyond a few key phrases.

While in Europe James would prefer to blend in as much as possible. Since faking a French accent and speaking the language was pretty much out, that meant they wouldn't stay in the country long. While they were there, they would have to avoid talking to anyone, even someone who seemed like an innocent.

"We need to get off the street as soon as possible," James stated. He didn't like being out in the open. The sooner they found an adequate place to lay low for the night, the sooner he could focus on their next steps. Unfortunately, for them to find something in their price range, they were going to have to venture to a much seedier part of the city.

The further they got from the bustling hub of the city, the closer James pulled Anya to him and the more he wished he had a gun. Not that he couldn't take down assailants without a weapon, but weapons made it easier and faster. They would also limit the chances of Anya having to engage in any combat. As it was, no one approached them, friend or foe. They made it to an abandoned warehouse by a river that was thankfully absent of squatters. Most squatters looked for abandoned buildings in the residential area, which was exactly why James started looking in more industrial areas.

There was an old couch in a back office area where James let Anya rest while he went over future plans. He found pencils and an old journal in the desk that only had a few water stained pages with equations on it. Ripping them out he began jotting down different cities he knew throughout Europe where they could live under the radar. It couldn't be any of the main tourist cities, or capitals. And it couldn't be any of the countries in Asia, they'd definitely stick out there. It'd be best if it were a country where he could speak the language fluently enough to pass as a local, which left Germany, Russia, and Romania.

Germany was obviously closer, but it was also more likely to have Hydra bases there. Seeing as Hydra grew from under Hitler's rule, it was probably best not to stay long in that country. Romania was closer, so that would be their tentative destination. Now he only had to figure out how they would travel across several countries as quickly as possible while remaining undetected.

It was Anya muttering incoherently in her sleep, tossing and turning on the sofa until she started screaming, that had James abandoning his plans and rushing to her side. Gathering her up in his arms, James began murmuring softly to her, repeating a soothing mantra of 'it's okay, I've got you' in both English and Russian. He was familiar with night terrors. He'd had enough of them, and there'd been plenty of soldiers during the war that would get them while in the trenches. Halting the movement, making Anya feel secure both mentally and physically, would help. After a few moments, Anya's thrashing ceased and the terror melted from her face.

James continued to hold Anya throughout the night, only moving to grab the journal and pencil so he could continue his planning while he sat with her. Resting his chin on the top of her head, James began calculating how long it would take to walk to Romania, and measured the risks of stealing a car or hitching a ride on a train. The car allowed for more control over location and speed, but the train was more low-key. There'd be no report of a stolen car circulating if they took a train.

"You didn't get any sleep, again," Anna murmured sleepily when she awoke early the next morning to find James jotting something down in a journal.

"I needed to formulate our plan. We can't stay in France," James responded distractedly as he crossed something out.

"When are we leaving?" Anya's question had James looking up from his writing. It still touched him, the amount of trust she placed in him. She didn't question why they couldn't stay, or where they were going. Following his lead wasn't something she even had to second guess. James didn't know if there'd ever be a time when her trust in him didn't affect him.

"The sooner the better. We'll catch the earliest train headed East." That time Anna didn't question the fact they didn't have tickets or money for tickets. She had a feeling while they were on the run, they weren't going to be doing much of anything legally. James would do anything to limit any paper trail they left. He'd also stay awake as long as he thought they weren't safe. Somehow Anna would have to convince him to let her take watch while he slept. It wasn't healthy for him to be up for so many hours straight.

"Come on then, let's go find our train," Anna murmured, rising from her seat and taking James' hand in hers. Bending down, she picked up her cap that had fallen on the floor while she slept and pulled it low over her face.

The city seemed different during the day. The people were bustling around the sidewalks instead of leisurely strolling. Most were dressed in business attire fancier than even DC Politicians. James and Anna stuck out even more, and Anna could tell it was making James uneasy. His grip on her tightened, and he started walking faster until it had Anna's lungs resisting the increased pace.

As soon as James heard Anya's wheezing he slowed his pace. He'd wanted to get them off the streets as fast as possible, he hadn't even thought about Anya's asthma. They didn't have any medicine in the first aid kit for her breathing, so he couldn't forget again. He couldn't risk her succumbing to a full on attack.

"I thought we were going to the closest train station," Anna commented, a little perplexed when James veered them down a street in the opposite direction of the main train station.

"We're not hitching a ride on that kind of train," James responded as he took a right turn. Train stations had too many ways to get caught and too many witnesses to notice and remember them. It was safer and easier to jump a car on a freight train heading East. It wouldn't be the most comfortable trip, but it would get them where they needed to go.

"I see," Anna commented as a train yard came into view. It actually made more sense to take a Freight car. She should have expected it. "Do we have enough provisions to get us to wherever we're going?" They only had three bottles of water and four cans of tuna fish left. Not exactly a huge stash.

"We'll make it last," James insisted. The train ride would be a minimum of 30 hours depending on where exactly it was headed, but he didn't want to risk stealing in the city they arrived in. He'd rather not provide a trail for Hydra to follow them. It would also be better to restock their supply at night, when stores were closed and they would have darkness as cover.

James had to help Anya up into the empty Freight car. Lifting her from behind, hands firmly on her waist, she managed to get hold of the handle on the side and hoist herself in from there. Tossing the backpack up behind her he climbed up behind her, moving towards the back corner of the car after sliding the side back shut. There were barrels lined up inside the car, which James moved to form a little barrier around their spot in the corner. That way if someone happened to check that car, they wouldn't be spotted upon first glance.

It wasn't until they started moving, and James as assured no one would be entering their compartment, that he allowed himself to drift off to sleep at Anya's insistence. His dreams consisted of broken memories from the war when Steve, him, and the others fought Hydra on a train. At the memory of being blasted with a fancy Hydra gun and feeling as though he was falling all over again, James jolted awake. It was darker in the car, meaning it was probably approaching night outside. He'd been out for at least ten hours. Blinking a few times to get the image of mountains rushing by out of his mind, James realized Anya was stroking his forehead.

"You were tense, I figured you were having a nightmare," Anna murmured when James glanced up at her. She wasn't sure if waking him would be best, seeing as any kind of rest would be better than none, so she attempted to comfort his subconscious.

"I was dreaming of the War, when Steve and I were on the train," James replied as he let his eyes flutter shut again. Knowing they were still safe, and having Anya's fingers dancing over his skin, had him relaxing more than he had in the past week. "But even the bad memories are favorable to not remembering at all."

"It might not be a bad idea to write down the memories as they come," Anna mused as her free hand fiddled with the journal she'd pulled from the bag while James' had been sleeping. She'd found out they were heading to Romania by reading it, another country where she didn't speak the language. At least James did. He wouldn't have chosen it if he didn't. Knowing the local dialect was key to blending in anywhere. "You already have the journal for it."

"You should as well. It could help force more memories of what happened at the Hydra base." They both had periods of their lives that were erased and rewritten in their minds thanks to Hydra. James' was just longer than Anya's. Even if the memories were horrible, it would be better for Anya to remember her time at the facility. Knowing what you've done was the first step towards forgiving yourself for it.

'What if I don't remember anything useful?" Anna questioned tentatively. There was a good chance Anna didn't know anything that could help them. It wasn't as if she was granted full access to all things Hydra while there. Just like James, Anna was pretty sure she'd just been a pawn in Hydra getting what they wanted.

"Then we'll figure out another way to bring Hydra down," James murmured, tilting his head so his lips brushed Anya's hand. He didn't want her to worry, but he didn't want to move his head from her lap. He was content to slip in and out of consciousness in the position he was in.

The trip was, in itself, uneventful until they were passing through the countryside. Between the increased pollen and the dust that had started to accumulate in the car, Anna's asthma and allergies kicked in. It started with a dry cough and scratchy throat, but it didn't take long to go downhill from there as light bruises started forming under her eyes and her breathing turned to a painful sounding wheezing. James had worked himself into a panic as he could only watch Anya get sicker, unable to make it better and cursing himself for not stealing an inhaler before they left the states and for picking the train instead of stealing a car. He'd only been thinking of getting to their destination as fast as possible, with clothes, food, and water. He hadn't even thought about going to the pharmacy. Probably because Anya's asthma hadn't acted up for a while.

"I'll…be…fine," Anna forced out between shallow breaths, trying to ease James' worry. She was also trying to keep her own nerves under control because the more she panicked, the worse the symptoms would become. Instead she focused on breathing in through her nose and out of her mouth slowly, no matter how much her instincts were telling her to breathe as fast as possible to get as much oxygen as she could. Slow breathing helped to ease the tensing muscles of the lungs.

"You can't breathe!" James practically shouted, gripping the sides of his head at the thought of Anya suffocating. Determined to find something that would help, he tore to the bottom of the backpack where the first aid kit was. Maybe there was something in there he missed. Seeing a clean washcloth in the kit sparked an idea in James' head. Whenever he needed to breathe after setting off a smoke bomb without a mask, he'd construct a filter system by breathing through a wetted towel. If it helped to filter the smoke out of the air, perhaps it could filter out some of the irritants that were causing Anya's attack.

Unscrewing the top of one of the two disposable bottles left, James drenched the washcloth in water, ringing it out before offering it to Anya. When she seemed confused, he placed it lightly over her mouth and nose, after explaining she should try and breathe through it. The cloth muted the sound of her wheezing, so James couldn't be sure if it was actually helping any until the alarm that had only shown in Anya's eyes faded a little. James made a decision then and there. The next city they passed through, they were getting off the train, and he was going to find Anya medicine.

…

"I wish I had a sample of their DNA for Jarvis to analyze," Tony commented to anyone who was listening. They were flying back from yet another Hydra Base raid. They were actually starting to become a little boring. He thought Hydra would shake up their response a little, but it was the same wherever they went. Which just proved they were looking in the wrong direction. Hydra would pull out the big guns if they found the scepter. That's why a blood sample would be ideal, as Tony was sure their big guns were the two unidentified subjects they had Anna Banana studying.

"Anna studied their blood for Hydra, anything of importance is in her journal," Steve commented as he took the seat beside Tony, checking his phone for the third time since they left.

"No offense to Anna, but she's not Jarvis," Tony responded, putting the plane on autopilot so he could fully focus on Steve. "Waiting on a call from Peaches?" Tony asked with a sly smile which only grew when Steve avoided eye contact.

"Emily said she was dropping off tickets to her concert tonight as a thank you for the flowers in case we got back in time. I'm waiting for cell service so I can let her know I'll be there," Steve responded trying his best to sound casual. In reality he was both excited and nervous to see Emily again. He hadn't seen her since the charity ball after Anna's surgery, and he'd been a nervous wreck then. Talking to pretty girls he didn't know wasn't exactly something he'd ever been good at.

"Aren't you guys adorable. 'Thank you for saving my life. No thank you for mending my suit jacket here's some flowers. Thanks for the flowers here's tickets to my concert.' You both are the politest flirters I've ever seen." It amused Tony to no end to see Steve and Emily hesitantly dance around each other. The two people who were the worst at talking to the opposite sex when they were attracted to them found themselves attracted to each other. It was highly entertaining. Tony actually had a bet going with Clint on who'd make the first move towards something more than the awkward friendship they were developing.

"She's not flirting. She's just being nice," Steve insisted, bashfully rubbing the back of his head. Tony noticed the fact Steve had basically admitted that he was flirting from his choice of pronouns, but decided not to comment on it. He saw another opportunity that would be more beneficial.

"A girl doesn't save tickets for her concert, and want you to be there, if she isn't into you. I say man up and ask her out." Tony wanted Steve to be happy and have a life. He also wanted to win his bet.

"Interference!" Clint shouted from the other side of the plane, thoroughly confusing Steve. Seizing the opportunity the interruption had created, Steve changed the subject away from Emily.

"You haven't heard from Anna or Bucky yet, have you?" It'd been over a week with nothing but silence on their end. He didn't know how long 'going dark' normally lasted, but he didn't like the lack of contact. He'd just started getting his best friend back when Hydra once again pushed the two apart. Not to mention Emily was bound to start questioning Anna's absence and he didn't know how much to tell her on that subject. He really didn't want to drag her into Hydra's radar by inviting her into the loop, but he also didn't want to lie to her.

"No," Tony answered curtly. He spent most of his down time trying not to worry about his baby sister. He kept telling himself no news was good news, but it didn't do much to console him. All his life it was Tony's job to keep Anna Banana safe. When their father drank and got angry, Tony made sure Anna stayed silently in her room so she wouldn't see him like that. If their dad wanted to berate or hit someone, Tony had rater it be him. He'd check for monsters in the closet and under the bed for her every night. Now real monsters were after her and Tony couldn't chase them all away.

"She'll call when it's safe," Natasha commented, inserting herself into their conversation as she took a seat behind Tony and Steve.

"That only means she's not safe now," Tony responded. His frustration was growing and instead of internalizing it he took it out on their team. "I thought Heimdall could see all. Why can't he just tell us where the scepter is?" Tony directed the sharp question to Thor.

"Earth is not the only realm facing troubled times. His vision has been focused on the other realms where he sensed a great darkness. When he can, he will show us the way," Thor answered with a sigh. It was not the first time Tony had asked him that question.

"You're basically king, can't you tell him Earth is more important than the other crummy realms," Tony muttered as he swiveled back around in his chair.

…

"I thought we were going to Romania," Anna rasped out, her voice muffled by the washcloth still pressed over her face. They hadn't been on the train near long enough to get from France to Romania.

"Change of plans," James responded as he hugged Anya closer to him. He'd managed to get them both off the train when it stopped last without getting caught, and he hadn't set Anya down yet. Her attack had died down some and he didn't want exertion to make anything worse.

"I told you. I'm fine," Anya insisted stubbornly. It may have been more believable if she hadn't erupted into a coughing fit afterwards.

"No you aren't. But you will be," James retorted as he ducked down an alley. It was almost night, but until the sun set he didn't want to risk being seen. Germany wasn't a good place to get on anyone's radar. "First I have to find a safe place for you to stay while I get supplies."

James hated the idea of leaving Anya alone, but he didn't have many options. Anya was still in a bad way and she'd draw attention to them if he brought her with him. She needed an inhaler, and they both needed food and water. It would probably be a good idea to restock the first aid kit as well. It was best if he found a safe place for Anya to rest and wait while he got everything. Besides, Hydra wouldn't expect him to be without Anya, at least the agents looking for them wouldn't. They knew what she meant to him.

"I don't get a choice in the matter, do I?" Anna asked, knowing she didn't. James was right anyways, she'd just be a hindrance to the process. She wasn't exactly used to stealing in the first place, and in her condition she'd just draw more attention.

That time around the safest place James could find was a deserted gas station. Anna was left in what she assumed used to be the cramped break room for the attendant. It had a table and a broken chair, but otherwise was empty. Anna ended up sitting against the back corner wall, and James moved the table on its side in front of her as a little barrier in case anyone came looking. If Anna scrunched down, no one would notice her behind the table in the dark. Leaving the last bottle of water with her, James pressed a firm kiss to her forehead before promising to be back as fast as he could. Anna half pleaded, half ordered him to be safe. She couldn't help but feel a finality when the door to the small room she was hiding out in clicked shut.

…

"There's no sign of the bodies, Sir," the agent reported to Rollins. The team had swept the river and the surrounding area three times and hadn't come up with anything. The asset and the girl weren't dead, and there were no signs of what direction they went in other than a puddle of bloody mud on the bank. The doctor had apparently patched them up enough they didn't leave a trail of blood and the asset made sure they didn't leave footprints to track. They just disappeared like ghosts.

"Call the team in. We're changing tactics and focusing on the Avengers. The only way for them to find out what Anna knows is for her to contact them or for them to find the journal. The asset wouldn't risk her contacting Stark Tower, that's why she hadn't before. We need to get that journal and anyone who read it." Rollins still wanted to take the doctor down for all the trouble she caused him, but she was pushed down in priority until she showed up on Hydra's radar again. As soon as any sign of Stark and the asset showed up, no matter how small, Rollins would finish them.

"Put a trace on Rumlow. He's obsessed with finding the girl and killing the asset. If he finds something, report to me immediately," Rollins added after a minute. Rumlow wasn't fit to be in charge, or even part of the organization, but that didn't mean he couldn't be useful. If anyone was persistent enough to find the asset and the girl, it was Rumlow. Rollins would let Rumlow do the footwork on tracking the asset down for him while his team focused on the Avengers. They might be seen as hero's, but they were also human. And humans always had people they cared about. If he couldn't get to them directly, Rollins would find their weak links.

* * *

 _A/N Hey Everyone! Sorry its been a little bit since the last update. My mom had her fourth Ankle surgery and I've been juggling helping her out, writing, and whatever else life throws at me. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the update. I've come to the conclusion that I will write mostly James/Anya's pov during Age of Ultron and what they get into on their own adventures. Age of Ultron dealing with the Avengers mishaps will probably be the basis of the Emily/Steve story. I'm not sure if I'll start that one and write it while I continue Janya's (Depends on my level of inspiration) or if I'll wait to finish Janya's story before taking on Steve's story. As always I'm open to hearing all of your opinions. I love hearing from you guys._ _ **QUESTION: One of my readers suggested I write a mini-fic or one shot with Anna in the first Avengers movie. Would that be something y'all are interested in?**_

 _Onto Guest Review Responses_

 _FishyWeirdo: YAY! I'm so happy you're considering/decided to review regularly. Makes me so so excited. I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and its cool spy vibe. Comparing it to Mission Impossible and James Bun etc is a huge compliment. I'm trying to keep it fresh and interesting and realistic, but I'm not used to writing those kinds of scenes. Good to know I'm succeeding. As you can see from this chapter there will definitely be more of the spy type stuff with tactical moves and such. I always try to respond to my reviewers. I feel its only right I take the time to respond to them when you and everyone else takes the time to write such awesome reviews. I enjoy reading them so much. Plus I feel a connection to my readers and I feel like showing them my appreciation for them reading, following, and commenting on this story. Hope you liked the update!_

 _Vana: Aw that is amazing to hear you think this story keeps getting better. That's what I'm aiming for. And you have no idea how much I smiled when you commented that Anna is well written. I tried really hard to write her and not make her super mary sueish. So very hard. I know I probably slipped in that department every once in a while, so it's nice to know she still comes off as well written!_

 _Kswizzle: Hello new reader! I'm gald you love the story, the plot, and the writing! I love writing and its nice to hear people enjoy it. Hope you enjoyed the update!_

 _The guest who threatened me if I didn't update: Sorry for the wait! :) I'm glad youre loving the book, and that you still enjoyed it after rereading it. Thanks for reading it let alone rereading it! Hope you enjoyed the update!_


	19. Chapter 19

Relentless Chapter 19

 **"It's funny 'cause at times it feels like us against the world. They treat ya like a criminal but I'll still be your girl. I'd ride or die with you, walk a line if you asked me to." They just don't know you by Little Mix**

Anna had to use the rest of the water to keep the washcloth damp while James was gone. Thank God he'd thought of that solution. Anna was sure without it, she would have died from lack of oxygen. It helped her inhale cleaner air, with less allergens to tighten her lungs and therefore slowed down the production of excess mucous. Now it was the only thing keeping her symptoms at bay, just under the surface. It served as a constant reminder during the hours James was gone of how weak she really was. Hydra didn't even need to take her out, her body could do a good enough job itself. If it wasn't for her stupid lungs they'd still be on their way to Romania. James wouldn't be risking exposure, getting arrested, or being found and killed by Hydra if it wasn't for her and her need for medicine. Stealing food was one thing, stealing medical supplies was a whole other level.

Not for the first time, Anna wondered if James would have been better off if she'd never tried to befriend him. If she'd treated him indifferently, he wouldn't have come to care for her, feel responsible for her safety, and he would have left DC to go into hiding alone. But then he'd be more confused about who he was, which would probably trigger more PTSD. He'd be scared, confused, and alone. At least she had one positive impact on his life.

James went for the medicine last. He knew there was no way around triggering alarms at the pharmacy, and he couldn't risk getting food after alerting the authorities to a robbery. It'd have the locals on high alert and increased the chances of getting caught. Knowing he was working against the clock to get back to Anya before she got even worse, James had to work hard to keep his cool. Instead of breaking down doors like he wanted, James forced himself to pick the lock with a safety pin from the first aid kit instead. It was more conspicuous and wouldn't immediately alert anyone to suspicious activity. Pulling his hat lower over his face and flipping the collar of his jacket up, James maneuvered quickly around the grocery aisles, throwing more water and nonperishable foods into the bag until it couldn't fit any more.

After walking the streets, James chose a small corner drugstore to get the inhaler from. It would have less inventory, but it'd also have less security. It was also geographically furthest from any police stations. Getting in wasn't very difficult, but actually getting the medication was harder than he anticipated. There were more than half a dozen different inhalers, and James had no idea which one Anya needed. He remembered the medicine was aerosolized, and had an L shape, so he could rule out the two boxes that showed circular inhalers. That still left six to choose from and he couldn't risk picking the wrong one. So he grabbed one each, stuffing them in his coat pockets. One of them would help Anya breathe.

It was the sound of a car engine cutting off out back that drew James' attention. Shit. Someone was there, and they were about a minute away from realizing the back door was already unlocked. Which meant he had less than a minute to get out of there without being seen. Hurtling the counter, James crouched down so his head wasn't visible over the aisles as he made his way towards the front entrance. It faced the street, which was why he'd chosen to enter through the back before. He didn't exactly have a choice that time. Flicking the lock off the door, James was out and on the street with the bell clanging behind him and alerting the owner someone had left. So much for keeping the stolen meds under the radar.

Running at full speed, James was two alley's down before he heard the bell of the pharmacy clang again. There was a moment of silence before the bell rang out one final time. The owner was most likely about to call the authorities. He needed to get out of the city and back to Anya before the cops started sweeping the streets. Cops usually went into a frenzy over murder and stolen drugs. They wouldn't know exactly what was stolen until they did a full inventory check, but inhalers weren't something local druggies stole. They'd assume it was narcotics missing until the inventory proved otherwise.

Sirens in the distance had James ducking down yet another alley, traveling in the shadows as he made his way towards the outskirts of town. Climbing up the fire escape of a nearby building when the sirens got too close, James continued his journey jumping form roof to roof until he ran out of roofs. He had to rearrange his plans while he ran. Initially he'd expected to move Anya to an abandoned building in the city that could offer a little more comfort than the gas station, after her breathing was controlled. Now they'd have to stay the night at the gas station and move out at first light for the next city.

…

"People don't just disappear. So where did she go? Where did he take her?" Rumlow muttered as he stared at the overlaying maps of New York and its surrounding States. When he couldn't follow Anna's trail after Stark Tower, Rumlow began following Rollins. It had proved fruitful when following him got him to the asset and Anna. That was, until the asset careened them both over the bridge. Terror and anger burned through him at the thought of Anna not surviving the crash. How could the asset be so careless? How could he risk her life like that? For the second time the asset had put Anya's life at risk by careening them over high standing platforms. He didn't deserve to even say he cared about her for all the reckless things he'd done.

After that night, he lost them just like Rollins' had. Unlike Rollins, Rumlow didn't give up on his search. There was a report of some inventory missing along the interstate heading East, but what the two were headed East for, Rumlow didn't know. Anna would only be comfortable in the two places she'd lived, New York City and Washington DC. Where in the United States would the asset feel most comfortable? The answer should be nowhere. He hadn't been out of cryofreeze long enough to be comfortable anywhere. At least not this time. Which meant he was going towards a place where he was out long enough to get a handle on the terrain. He was going somewhere in Europe.

"I'm looking at the wrong maps," Rumlow grumbled as he opened up a new tab to look at a whole new slew of maps. It was around that time that Julia came in with food, forcing him to eat.

"Can't you just let this be? They obviously don't want to be found," Julia sighed when she noticed her brother looking at maps of France, England, Germany, and Russia. If the girl he was after had left the country undetected by airplane security cameras, she didn't want anyone following her. Her brother wasn't trying to find her to help her. He was hunting her down. Her and whoever she was with.

"She needs to be made to see the truth. The asset is a dangerous criminal, and she deserves better." And he deserves her. Julia knew her brother enough to know the thoughts he wasn't vocalizing. He wanted the girl, and he didn't have her. Now he was doing anything he could to get her. He'd crossed over the line of obsessive.

…

Taking in his surroundings carefully, James waited until he was sure he hadn't been followed before entering the gas station. If the police were going to find him, he'd rather not take Anya down with him. Pushing the door open with his foot, and shutting it promptly behind him, James found Anya huddled in the corner with her head against the wall and the washcloth still pressed against her face. The heaving of her shoulders alerted him to her troubled breathing before her scared eyes did. It had his heart sinking. He'd left her alone in a foreign country when she couldn't breathe. It was for good reason, and was only done as a last resort, but it still didn't make him feel any better about it.

Dropping the bag to the ground, James kneeled before Anya and pulled out all the inhalers he'd taken. As quickly as he could, he translated the names and active ingredients of them until Anya reached for the one she needed. With slightly shaking hands, she primed the inhaler before inhaling the medication into her lungs. It took three inhalations until the medication took effect. Watching the fear fade from Anya's eyes and the tension dissolve from her body had James feeling as thought he'd taken a hit of the medication as well. A weight was lifted from his chest. Anya was going to be okay.

"I'm sorry for ruining the plan," Anna murmured when she felt as though her lungs were able to function normally again.

"You're more important than any plan. We can make a new plan," James assured her, pulling her into his arms. He hadn't been able to really hold her since her attack started. She had needed space to breathe.

"Do we try to catch another train, or do we steal a car?" Anna had been using her time while James was gone trying to figure out which would be best. She had no idea. James had picked the train for a good reason, so perhaps they should consider that method again. Anna had an inhaler now, so she could handle any further attacks before they got as bad as that last one.

"We'll walk to the next city over and see about hitching a ride on another train," James answered. It would be too risky to go back into the city after he'd almost gotten caught stealing drugs. They needed to go where the police force wouldn't be on high alert. "But only when you're up to it."

Anna rose to her feet at James' statement. They had a lot of ground to cover, and she was fine to start the trek to the next city. She wouldn't let herself be the reason they postponed their plans, not again. Her asthma was under control, and it'd be better if they started out under the cover of darkness. If she'd learned one thing during their short time being on the run, it was that darkness was their greatest ally.

James reached for the backpack before Anya could. He knew she wouldn't let him carry her the miles it would take to get to the next city, but at least he could make the hike easier for her. Being on the move had him feeling a little less anxious, and less like a trapped animal waiting for a hunter to find them. To outsiders it probably looked like they were two lovers backpacking across Europe. That wasn't exactly false. It was the motivation behind them traveling across Europe with minimum supplies that wouldn't add up to the normal picture of travelers. They weren't just traveling, they were running.

"I'm sorry it came to this," James stated an hour after they left the gas station. He'd never meant for them to have to leave the country and put even more distance between Anya and her brother. They'd been safe in the house in the mountain. If he'd abandoned his desire for revenge they would still be safe, in a country where Anya spoke the language and in an actual house.

"I'm not," Anna responded vehemently, causing James to whip his head in her direction. Confusion and disbelief flashed across his face as he studied her. "Hydra might be the reason we're running for our lives, and for having our deaths looming over our heads. They warped our minds and tried to control us. But they're also the reason we met. And it might be twisted, and stupid, but I don't regret being taken that first time in DC. It set a lot of things into motion. Including us."

Anna couldn't read the change of expression on James' face when he pulled on her arm to make her stop. There was an intensity in his eyes as he wrapped his right hand around the back of her neck and pulled her into a deep kiss. James didn't say a word when he pulled away. He just took Anna's hand and started walking again.

James kept a tight grip on Anya's hand as they continued on. Out of all the horrible things Hydra had done to him, and all the pain he experienced at their hands, Anya was the one good thing to come out of it. If he hadn't been found by Zola, if he hadn't been transformed into a killer, if he hadn't been put in cryofreeze only for Hydra to awaken him seventy years later, James never would have known Anya. If there was a reason behind everything that he was put through, it was Anya. She was his chance at being happy, at living a better, happier life.

Anna had to use the inhaler two more times during their hike. The first was when the air got so thick with humidity she could feel her lungs working harder to get the oxygen they needed. They'd been walking through the suburbs then, and an hour later the humidity worked up into a storm. Dark clouds rolled in and rain poured down from the sky until Anna couldn't see two feet in front of her. The flashes of lightening helped with the visibility, but only slightly.

"What's the matter?" Anna called out when James abruptly pulled his hand from hers. She half expected to see Hydra coming at them from behind, even though the thought of Hydra tracking them to a tiny suburb outside of Frankfurt, Germany was pretty unlikely. They'd been careful to cover any possible trails that could have been left behind.

"Metal attracts lightening. I might be able to survive getting hit by lightning, but I doubt if your tiny body could handle that," James responded as he took another couple steps away from Anya. He'd never actually gotten struck by lightning in any storms he'd gotten caught up in on missions. He wasn't even sure his arm was conductive enough to draw lightning to it. But James was not going to take that risk now. With his luck, he'd end up getting struck and killing Anya. Just the thought of Anya dying was enough to have him moving away. Her dying at his hands would be an unimaginable horror. He could deal with every other person's blood that stained his skin, but not Anya's.

"We need to get out of this storm. I can't even tell what direction we're going," Anna shivered when another flash of lightning lit up the sky. If they didn't get somewhere dry and warm, they'd have more problems than just her asthma. The thought of lightning striking James was another big motivator for finding shelter. It didn't matter if he could survive it, seeing him in pain wasn't something she enjoyed. Besides, he'd need real medical attention to properly heal from something like that.

"We're going south west," James verified. He'd paid particular attention to their direction. It was important for him to know where they were at all times. Getting lost wouldn't do them any good. "We're about seventy miles from Munich."

"Maybe we should have gotten a train in Frankfurt," Anna commented with a sigh. Between the storm, her asthma, and their limited supply of food, walking seventy more miles seemed more than just daunting, it seemed reckless.

"We couldn't," James admitted, pushing his wet hair out of his face. It wasn't something he had wanted Anya to worry about, but there was no way they were turning around to get a train. They might be closer to Frankfurt, but Munich would be safer. "I was almost caught stealing the inhalers. I couldn't risk going back into the city."

"Someone saw you?" Anna's froze, her body temperature plummeting at the thought that James had been identified. The whole point of coming to Europe was so they could blend in and fly under the radar for a little while.

"No, but come on Anya, look at me. I'm the type of guy they'd search, if not arrest. I look dangerous. Hell, I am dangerous. I'd get on the cops radar if we went back. And if the police haven't been infiltrated by Hydra, like almost every other organization, it would only be a matter of time until Hydra found us from there."

"Seventy miles it is then," Anna responded, turning to continue walking in the direction they'd been headed. After a few steps she turned back to James to add, "For the record, you'd look less dangerous if you scowled less, and smiled more around other people."

The second asthma attack happened after they found an old barn to hide in and ride out the rest of the storm. They'd taken refuge in the hay loft. Hay might have made a soft bed, but it also had Anna's asthma going haywire. Once the inhaler kicked in, the whole set up wasn't half bad. The horses made some noise in the stalls below them, and the place had a slight horse smell to it, but it was warm and dry. Much better than the abandoned gas station.

James still kept his distance while the storm continued, even in the barn. He made Anna stay closer to the ladder so she could escape faster should the barn be struck. When Anna was accidently jostled awake by James pulling her closer, that's when she knew the storm was over. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep again with James beside her. There was no telling how long she'd been out before James was shaking her awake again, that time on purpose. The first thing Anna made out was his face. James had a finger to his lips signaling for her to keep quiet, a touch of alarm in his eyes. It took another minute before she heard footsteps below them. Someone was in the barn.

There were only two ways out of the barn from where they were: down the ladder, and out the hay door. The latter was their only option of getting out unseen, but there was a good chance Anya would break something from a fall that high if she didn't land just right. They were trapped. James knew it'd been a bad idea to take shelter in a barn that was still in use. Abandoned buildings; that was what they needed to stick with.

As soon as any sounds of footsteps retreated, James was leading the way down from the loft. They needed to get out of there fast, before they were caught. It didn't take long for him to realize that was impossible.

"Shit," James muttered, much to Anna's confusion. That was until he led the way out of the barn and was facing down the barrel of a shot gun. They'd been discovered.

Resisting the urge to rip the shot gun out of the farmer's hands and knock him out cold, as that would only draw suspicion amongst anyone who heard that tale, James simply raised his hands to show he meant no harm. Repeating that verbally in German caused the man to question why they were in his barn.

Anna had no idea what was being discussed. It didn't sound particularly friendly, but that could be the language and not the conversation. All Anna could do was prepare to take off running if James deemed it necessary, though there was no way she could outrun bullets. Thankfully, the old farmer lowered his weapon to the ground somewhere towards the end of the conversation. Which was good, seeing as Anna didn't think she could heal the wound a shot gun would make.

"He's just letting us go?" Anna whispered in confusion, turning back towards the farmer as they walked away from both him and his farm. "What did you say to him?"

"We got lost in the storm and needed shelter. We didn't want to bother his family, so we went to the barn." James murmured as he moved Anya so she was walking directly in front of him. If the farmer did decide to shoot, the bullet would at least have to go through him to hit Anya.

"That got him to let us go without shooting us up with lead?" It was something the farmer could have deduced before they even spoke, and he still aimed his gun. Anna knew you could never be too careful, and trust wasn't something she expected from the farmer. She'd expected James to have to spin a better tale.

"Yes. And I want you to be out of shooting range before he changes his mind," James retorted, moving his hands to Anya's waist and urging her to go faster.

The farmer never did take a shot at them. Apparently German farmers weren't as trigger happy as some Americans. Which was a very good thing, seeing as they had to cut through several farming fields on their way to Munich. It was in the middle of one of those fields that Anna felt as though her feet were going to fall off or start bleeding if they didn't rest. Darkness had fallen again, but there was no good place for them to take shelter for the night. They had to continue on. Shrugging out of the backpack, and sliding it onto Anya's shoulders, James replaced the bag with Anya. It took a little bit for her to get situated, but once her arms and legs were wrapped snug around him he continued their trek.

"It's not fair," Anya murmured in his ear, sounding on the verge of being delirious from the exertion of their travels. "You can be so sweet and adorable, yet sexy at the same time. Are you even real?"

The fact that he was willing to carry her on his back for however more miles they had to go until they found an adequate place to rest had her smiling. Meanwhile, the feeling of his muscles flexing to carry her weight had her melting inside. Like she said, it wasn't fair.

Moving his head to the side, James pressed his lips against Anya's arm. She was the only one who would think he was sweet. Everyone else saw the Winter Soldier, an assassin, or a man you didn't want to get too close to or look at the wrong way. Anya had always seen him differently, ever since they first met. Anya questioned if he was real, but to him, she was more surreal.

"Just don't let go," James murmured back to her, his words going far deeper than just her releasing her physical hold on him. James' worst fear was Anya giving up on him, on them. He desperately wanted to reassure himself that Anya wouldn't let go of them.

"Never," Anya answered through a yawn. Her one word response had James hoisting her higher on his back, adjusting his hold on her. He took it as an answer to both his statements, feeling as though somehow it was.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Hello everyone! I know it's been a while but my life got hectic fast. I got a job offer to work out in South Dakota so I've been filling out my paper work and preparing to move halfway across the country. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the update. Sorry that nothing much happened, but they are in the process of traveling. Let me know what you think! I'm not sure how I feel about it since it took me a very long time to be able to write it all.**_

 _ **Guest Review Responses!**_

 _Bubblegum (Juliet): I read both your reviews for rehabilitate and this story and let me say thank you for your lovely words. I am so happy you are enjoying it and don't worry I am not ending it now. It will continue. I will not abandon it forever. There may be times where I don't post as frequently, but I will never give up! Hope you enjoyed the update._

 _Alice R: I'm so very glad that you are loving the story. It's not rude at all. Steve and Emily will have their own story, that was just a bit of a teaser for their story/relationship. I am not going to write their story in here don't worry!_

 _FishyWeirdo: It's very nice to hear you enjoyed the last chapter. I agree, Hydra cutting Bucky and Anya slack is a nice change of pace, but crazy obsessive Rumlow is still tracking them. And in a way that might be worse. I haven't gotten around to starting the side mini-fic of Anna with the Avengers during the first Avengers movie, but I will start it once I have the time. I will gladly take the compliment on mixing Anna with the Marvel universe. I'm very pleased you see her fitting in as though she actually belongs there. About Steve and Emily. They will be a side story not included in this one. Also, I understand some people might prefer Steve with Sharon but I just don't. Personally I'm a huge Steggy (Steve and Peggy) shipper so I can't really fathom Steve and her niece. Then again, that's why some people are pro Sharon. Nothing against her character, I love Sharon Carter/Agent 13. Just not with Steve. So I'm improvising and I'm gonna pretend they don't get together in the marvel cinematic universe. If you don't like that I'm replacing an actual love interest with an OC I completely understand. I won't be hurt if you don't read that story whenever I start it. I do enjoy connecting with the readers and I will always welcome opinions and constructive criticism (no matter how much it bruises the ego) lol. Thanks for the review!_

 _Victoria: Wow, I'm so touched its good enough that you'd buy it if it was a book :) I'm glad you love Janya, I do too. But I'm their creator so I have to love them._

 _To the guest who begged me to UPDATE, here it was. Hope you enjoyed it :)_

 _To Brunches: I love your expressions, they're amazing. If I can make you even think about rereading it that means I'm doing something right. I'm glad you appreciate the whole James and Anya and Bucky and Anna dynamic. I always think it's cute when couples call each other by names (real or nicknames) that nobody else uses. I will definitely start brainstorming and working on a mini-fic of Anna with the Avengers during the first Avengers movie. And aww I love you too because you're nice and leave nice reviews and inspire me to write more when you say you'll love me more if I do ^_^_

 _To the Guest who suggested I finish Janya's story before moving on to Steve and Emily: I agree, I will be waiting because I know I won't be able to give both couple's stories adequate attention if I attempt both together. YAY 10 out of 10. Thank you!_

 _To ParisFan83: I'm glad you're interested in the mini-fic with Anna during Avengers. As I've told others, I will brainstorm when I have the time on that piece. Thanks for the review and the opinion!_

 _To ChaosCrew259: Hello! Welcome to Fanfiction. I'm glad you joined us on this wonderful site and that you've found and like my story. To see if I've posted recently, you can go to my profile and look at relentless. Under the description of the story it has a bunch of info about it like what it's rated, how many reviews, follows, and favorites it has, when it was first published and when it was updated. Hope that helps! If you have any further questions about the site set-up don't hesitate to ask! It's no trouble at all._

 _To Hannah: I'm so glad you found my stories and that you've become obsessed with them (it's always fun to obsess over things). And I think I just died from happiness when you said Janya is your OTP. Seriously thank you for that. Good thing it's the good kind of crack lol. Hope you enjoyed the hit from this update._

 _To the guest who said they really liked my story and that its really original: Thanks! I try my best to keep it original. I worked hard to come up with this story line. I'm glad you fell in love with this story and I hope you enjoyed the update._

 _To Bluegirl3: Wow you read both stories really fast! I'm so touched you enjoy my writing style. Hope you enjoyed this little bit of James and Anya!_

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	20. Chapter 20

" _They said we'd never make it but our hearts won't quit. A never ending fantasy. We could be royalty, king and queen of nowhere. Lose it all, everything, as long as we got you and I, you and me." Sabrina Carpenter All we have is Love_

* * *

When they finally made it to Munich, Anna managed to convince James into spending the first night in a hostel. They didn't have to sign in with their real names, it was free, and they could stand a night of good rest on an actual mattress. Although, James didn't particularly get a good night of sleep.

Every squeak of a mattress and every footstep had James' eyes flying open and kept him on high alert. He didn't like sleeping in a strange place with a dozen other people around. Especially when he didn't have an automatic or even a pistol to easily take out any enemy they might come across there. The only reason he had agreed to staying there was for Anya. She deserved one night of sleeping like a human being, under a roof on a bed.

"We're in a room full of teenagers that are half your size. No one is going to try and kill us or steal from us. And if they did, I highly doubt they'd succeed. Just try to relax," Anna murmured sleepily when she realized James was still awake, his body stiff and his gaze moving around the dimly lit room.

"Age and size don't matter. Especially not if they have weapons," James muttered back, causing Anna to roll her eyes. Instead of debating the matter further, she slid closer and wrapped her arm around him. The next time she woke the sun had risen and James was still on high alert, in the same position he'd been in hours ago.

"How did you sleep?" James asked, shifting his weight so he could turn and face Anya. Her hair was all tangled and sticking up from tossing and turning the night before. At least she hadn't screamed herself awake last night.

"Better than you," Anna mumbled, running her hand over her hair and doing her best to comb out the tangles with her fingers. She made a mental note to braid it before bed from then on, to prevent her hair from mimicking medusa again. "Nothing happened, you could have slept."

"I rarely like what I see when I close my eyes," James admitted after a long pause, focusing his eyes on the ceiling rather than Anya. The dangers that came with Hydra hunting them down gave him an excuse not to sleep, but it wasn't just Hydra that had him avoiding it. As he told her before, he'd been regaining more of his memories, but not all of them were good ones.

Not knowing what to say to help, Anna entwined her fingers with James'. Most people she'd treated at the VA had fought in one war, James had been fighting a war for the majority of his life. He'd been at war with the Nazi's, with Hydra, with the Red Room, even with his own mind. He'd fought and killed foes and friends alike. There were no words to comfort that kind of pain.

"We should get moving," James broke the silence, pulling Anya up with him as he sat up.

"Right, Germany's not safe." Nowhere seemed to be safe. Some places were just less dangerous than others. At least when it came to the risk of Hydra, or Rumlow, finding them.

…

It took them another three days to reach Romania. They didn't stay in any other hostels, returning to squatting in abandoned buildings instead. James seemed more at ease with less people around. Each mile they put between them and Germany seemed to have James releasing the tense set of his shoulders a little more. Anna wished she could say the same about herself.

Though she would never admit it to James, Anna was exhausted. Every muscle in her body was screaming at her to just lay down for the next three days. Her chest and lungs always felt tight, on the verge of spasming into another asthma attack. The medications were keeping the attacks at bay, but the feelings still lingered reminding her how out of control her asthma had gotten. Her lungs weren't used to breathing in the dirt and pollen from the country sides they traveled through.

"What do we do now?" Anna murmured as she took in the city around them, bustling with people they could never trust. Their voices joined together creating a large buzzing in the background, saying words she didn't have a prayer of understanding. When her chest tightened she forced air in through her nose and out her mouth. She'd gotten used to controlling her lungs with breathing exercising instead of automatically reaching for the medicine. Soon it would run out, and Anna needed to be able to survive without it.

"We find a place for you to lay low while I find you more medicine," James responded, sending her a worried glance. Anna hadn't thought he noticed. She hadn't been hiding it as well as she thought.

"No," Anya demanded, taking James by surprise. "We stay together. And if I need medicine, I'll get it myself."

Anna was tired of feeling useless. She was a Stark. Stark's might be a lot of things: rich, stubborn, prideful, arrogant, but they were not useless.

"Together," James agreed, a smile crinkling his eyes as he wrapped his hand around hers.

…

"Is all this really necessary?" Julia asked as she followed Brock down a long back alley in Frankfurt. He was on his way to make a back alley arms deal. If they got caught they'd land themselves in a foreign prison. And still she followed him. She had to admit, she was curious about the girl that drove her brother to madness.

"As much as it pains me to admit, the asset cannot be beat without weapons," Brock responded as he ducked into the alcove at the back of a decrepit looking building. After the disappearing act the so called 'asset' had pulled, Julia was wondering if he was trackable, let alone beatable. He and the girl had disappeared like ghosts.

Before Julia could say another word, the door was swinging open and she was once again following Brock as he went inside. She watched as her brother bought grenades, several knives, two automatics and a pistol with enough amo to shoot off a thousand rounds. It seemed highly overzealous to Julia.

"And how do you plan on winning the girls affections after you blow up the man she chose?" Julia couldn't help but ask. She had no way of knowing if the girl had gone with the Winter Soldier of her free will or not. However, Julia suspected there might have been more leads on their whereabouts if she hadn't wanted to go. She seemed the type to resist. Which brought Julia to her current question. If the girl was to resist her brother, what would Brock do?

"I'll make her see the truth. I've done it before, I'll find a way to do it again," Brock responded, gritting his teeth. Julia had a feeling the truth her brother was talking about, was his truth. Like politicians, his truth differed drastically to the whole truth.

"How do you even know we're on the right track to find them?" Europe was a huge continent. Who could know for sure where Anna and her Soldier were headed.

"There was a drugstore robbery last week where the only thing taken were inhalers," Brock responded as though that answered her question. When she prodded him with a 'so,' he was forced to explain himself further. "Nobody robs a drugstore for a non-controlled drug that won't help them get high. Anna has asthma. He was stealing it for her."

Risking exposure so that he could get the medicine she needed to survive. For someone like the Winter Soldier, or at least how the news and Brock had portrayed the Soldier, that was a big deal. Julia wouldn't consider it romantic, but it was an indicator that the Soldier cared about Anna. If Julia was on the run from an organization that spent decades brainwashing her, she wouldn't risk alerting someone to her location for anyone. Not even for her brother.

…

"Te iubesc," Anna said, feeling as though she was butchering the pronunciation.

"yoo-besk. The 'i' is silent here," James explained, unable to hide his smile at Anya's pronunciation. All things considered, she was learning the language rather quickly.

"What does it mean?" Anya asked after repeating the phrase correctly.

"It means I love you," James translated, making Anya smile as she shook her head at him.

"And how is that going to help me keep a cover here?" James had starting tutoring her in Romanian since their arrival in the hopes that they might blend in better. Her accent was good, but her pronunciation needed work.

"It won't. I just wanted to hear it with that accent." Anya squirted water from her water bottle at him for that, but she didn't try to hide her chuckle. It was nice to hear her laugh again. There hadn't seemed to be much to laugh about lately.

"Te iubesc," Anna murmured again once her laughter died down, keeping her eyes locked on James'. It wasn't long before he closed the distance between them, his lips greeting hers in a hungry kiss. She found herself melting back against the cold concrete wall as her fingers weaved through James' hair. It'd been so long since they had time to think about anything other than survival. Now all Anna could think about was being as close to James as possible.

Reality crept back in as the sun shone through the pane less window, blinding them as it rose. They'd had their night of forgetting everything, but now it was time to shift back into survival mode. They couldn't keep squatting in old abandoned buildings for an infinite amount of time. It wasn't fair to Anya. James was the reason they had left the house in the mountains, where they had food and a bed to sleep in. Somehow he was going to find them a safe place to live in Bucharest.

"Watching the sunrise from an abandoned building reminds me of Aladdin," Anna murmured as she stood to join James staring out at the city.

"What's Aladdin?" James asked, his brow creased. That was right, Aladdin hadn't come out until the 90s. James wouldn't have seen any movies coming out later than the early 40s.

"Next time we have access to a TV we need to do a movie marathon." Just the idea of having movie nights curled up on a couch with James made Anna smile.

Once they'd slipped on the last of their clothes, and James had their backpack slung over his shoulders, they left their momentary fortress. The city itself was just waking up. Shops were just opening their doors, stands were uncovering their goods, and people in suits talking on phones scurried across the sidewalks. Anna could pick up on a few words and phrases here and there. She had a long way to go until she was fluent.

James headed towards a grocery shop at the edge of the square that was owned by an older man. The man was stacking fruit outside the storefront as they approached, and James made sure his metal arm was completely covered with his sleeve and glove before he spoke.

"Ai vreun lucru as putea face?" James asked the man, making him pause in his work.

"Ce fel de munca?" The man responded, eyeing James' warily. His long hair and beard had him looking a little on the rough side.

"Orice fel." James would take any work the man could give him. If they wanted to survive under the radar, Anya and James needed to blend in. They couldn't be caught squatting in buildings or stealing food here. No, they'd need money to buy those things.

Anna was more than surprised when James stopped to talk to someone. She was confused. When they'd gone off the grid, James had said they couldn't have contact with anyone. Now he was walking up to shop keepers and striking up conversation. Straining to understand the conversation, she could only pick out the word job. James was looking for a job. And by the handshake the two shared at the end of the conversation, he'd gotten one.

"What was all that about?" Anna whispered when the old man went back into his shop.

"I'm going to repaint his house for some money," James responded, keeping his voice down as well. If he wanted to prevent people finding out they were foreigners, they couldn't be overheard speaking English. "We need food, and food isn't free."

They also needed a place to live, but that was a problem for another day. It would take more than one job to afford a room anywhere.

Anna didn't have a chance respond. The old man returned with painting supplies. Locking up his shop he had them follow him to his truck. It was easy to see James was uncomfortable getting in a car with a stranger. It was the reason he had refused to take a cab in DC. That's what had Anna hopping into the bed of the truck and turning to take the paint from the old man. When James joined her, sliding up beside her so his back rested against the rear window of the truck, he took her hand in his and gave it a thankful squeeze.

"Ai încredere în el?" Anna struggled with the pronunciation. She didn't want to ask it in English. Even if the old man overheard her, it was better he understood her than realize she wasn't Romanian.

James slowly shook his head. He didn't trust the old man, as unassuming as he seemed. They could only trust each other. That's how they would survive. When you started trusting people, letting your guard down, they always betrayed you. James knew the old man would turn them over to Hydra in a heartbeat if the opportunity ever came about. If money didn't persuade him, Hydra's very real promise of death to everyone he loved would. No, they could only trust each other.

The old man lived in a small two story house on the edge of the city. The paint on his house had started to chip, which made it easier for Anna and James to strip it off before painting it with a fresh coat. The old man's wife came out at infrequent intervals, offering them ice water. Anna guzzled it down, only to have a coughing fit when the cold caused her lungs to spasm. Faster than she thought possible, James was pressing her inhaler into her hand. The canister was almost empty. James must have noticed as well because he had her sitting on the tailgate of the truck while he finished the job.

It took the whole day to paint the small house. James' face was splattered with white paint, and Anna had scrapped her knuckles while peeling the old paint off, but they'd finished. Anna waited on the tailgate while James spoke with the old man. His wife stood beside him, peering worriedly around James at Anna. Looking away she nudged her husband and said something Anna was too far away to hear. Though she doubted she would understand it had she been in ear shot.

When James finally hopped back up in the truck, the old man climbing into the cab to take them back into the city, he shoved a wad of bills into the pocket of their pack.

"How much is that in US dollars?" Anna murmured, having no clue if they had enough to last them a while, or if it would just be enough for a day.

"About seventy dollars," James responded as he shifted further away from the back of the cab. He didn't want to be overheard. "The man's wife noticed your asthma. She made him give us a little extra so you could get more medicine. There's a small clinic at the bottom of an old apartment building that provides treatment for people like us."

"People like us?" Anna repeated, her voice rising some. What did they mean people like them? Had the realized they were on the run? Could they know bad people were after them?

"Relax, Anya, she only meant people down on their luck. Those who are trying their hardest to get by," James reassured her, tucking her hair behind her ear. He had no idea if the couple knew more than they let on. The whole clinic thing could be a set-up. But it was a chance James needed to take. Anya needed more medicine.

The old man dropped them off in front of the clinic. James wasn't kidding when he said it was in an old apartment building. The clinic itself had only two small rooms. One exam room and a narrow waiting area. They didn't have to give their names, or show any identification. The doctor took them back with no questions asked. After listening to James list her symptoms and showing the inhaler she'd been using, the doctor traded them a new inhaler for just a few of the bills the old man had given them.

They were about to leave when two men barged in, the one on the left holding the other up. The man on the right was bleeding profusely from his abdomen. James quietly whispered a translation in her ear. the younger man had been hurt on their construction site, a scrap of metal slicing his stomach.

"Eu nu pot ajuta pe el. El are nevoie de chirurgie," the doctor exclaimed, starting to push the men out of the door. He wasn't going to help them? One look at the doctor's panicked face had Anna wondered if maybe he couldn't help them.

Without even thinking, Anna motioned for the men to enter and set the injured one on the table. Pulling at the drawers of supplies where the doctor had gotten her inhaler, Anna finally found a pair of gloves and some rubbing alcohol. James barked something at the doctor that must have been something along the lines of get away or she knows what she's doing, as it had the doctor backing away to the corner instead of forcing Anna out like he was about to do.

Pulling the injured man's clothes out of her way, Anna took in the wound. It was deep, but Anna had seen worse. The man was lucky the metal hadn't nicked any organs. Murmuring a low apology, Anna poured the rubbing alcohol over the wound and her hands. She didn't have time to search the medical drawers for more supplies. Instead she shouted at James to get the first aid kit, or at least that's what she assumed she'd managed to say as James produced the kit from the bag.

Keeping pressure on the wound with her left hand, Anna ripped the bag of clotting agent with her teeth, applying it to the wound. She needed to get the bleeding to stop, or he wouldn't survive. Without her needing to ask, James handed her the sutures kit next. There were no numbing agents in the kit, and if the clinic didn't deal with emergencies she highly doubted there were any available there. Instead Anna pulled the man's belt loose and illustrated what he was to do with it before moving it towards his mouth. He seemed to understand as he immediately bit down on the leather.

The wound took fifteen stitches. Disposing of her gloves, Anna fished around the drawers until she found antibiotics. She managed to fumble through the instructions to take two pills for ten days. James had to correct her pronunciation one time. Letting the belt fall from his mouth, the patient mumbled his thanks. The men tried to pay her, but Anna wouldn't take it. The feeling of helping to heal someone again, to be a doctor again was good enough.

James ushered Anya out of the room after she finished sewing up the man's injury. Getting an inhaler was one thing, but saving a man would draw too many questions and too much attention. He couldn't stop her from saving him. It would have eaten away at Anya if she hadn't tried to save the man. But now they really needed to leave the clinic. Maybe even the city.

"Aşteptaţi," the doctor called out to them. James had no intention of waiting, urging Anya to move faster. When the doctor grabbed a hold of Anya's arm to stop her, James turned towards him, pushing him back against the wall, his hand around the doctor's neck.

"James don't!" Anna shouted, forgetting to use Romanian as she tugged on his arm. The doctor wasn't Hydra. He was a man helping those who needed it most. There was no reason for him to die.

"I mean you no harm," the doctor choked out in heavily accented English once James' loosened his grip. "I only wanted to know how she knew to do that."

"I was a surgeon," Anna responded. It was too late to pretend she was Romanian. He'd heard her speak flawless English, while she fumbled with her Romanian earlier. She didn't know enough Romanian yet to make it believable.

"Do you still want to be?" He asked her.

* * *

 _A/N: Hey everyone! I know it's been a while and all. Truth is, I've been struggling through writer's block. I'm so ready to be at the Civil War storyline, but I can't yet. It leads to some imagination blockage. I hope I can continue busting through it for both you and me. No matter what, I stand by what I've always said. I will NEVER abandon this fic. Please let me know what you thought. All your reviews always help invigorate my imagination and desire to write. And I could really use that right now. I hope you enjoyed this installment. I fell it's not my best, so I apologize beforehand if you are all disappointed with this chapter. I will always strive to improve. Below are the translations for the Romanian spoken in this chapter. I have no idea if it is accurate, and for those who speak the language I apologize if it is not. I used the internet as the only language I speak is English._

 _Translations for the chapter:_

"Ai vreun lucru as putea face?": do you have anything I can do?

"Ce fel de munca?" : What kind of work?

"Orice fel": Any kind.

"Ai încredere în el?": do you trust him?

"Eu nu pot ajuta pe el. El are nevoie de chirurgie,": I cannot help him. He needs surgery.

 _Guest Review Responses_

 _Hannah: I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter! Hope you continue to like the story_

 _Victoria: Here's the update! Thanks for thinking I'm awesome. I try lol_

 _Luxicana: Yay for my story painting pictures in your head. Sorry it took so long for this one to come out._

 _Owlgirl: I love your name! Owls are one of my favorite animals. Anyways, It is nice to hear you enjoyed both installments of this story and that they make you happy. I put a lot of effort into my writing and hearing you think I'm talented at it is amazing!_

 _JuJu: Sorry it took so long to post!_

 _Jojo97: It's one of your favorite fics?! Wow thanks!_

 _To the guest who reminded me not to forget my loyal band of readers: I could never forget all off you guys. You are wonderful. I'm sorry it's been so long and I haven't been keeping a regular schedule. I've been having writers block so telling you guys a schedule would only be unfair to you guys because I might not be able to keep it. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!_

 _Alex: Are you from Munich? That's awesome. I'm sure they'd have loved to hide out with you, but now they're already in Romania. I'm so glad you love the story and your compliments about my writing and characters is so nice. I am always writing. If I can't think of what to write for this story I try clearing my head by writing other fanfics on here or sometimes I work on fics that I might post in the future. You're English is very good so don't worry about that! Hope you liked this chapter!_

 _Fishey Weirdo: Thank you for both reviews! I agree, Bucky and Anna are strengthening their relationship. It made me smile when you commented that they are already the strongest couple in the world. Aint that the truth. Glad you liked the ending of the last one! I love writing their little moments together. And thanks for sharing the music that you listen to while reading! Music plays an important role in setting the mood when I write._

 _Rach_

 _Xoxo_


	21. Chapter 21

**I have videos for this story on YouTube. Read the authors note for details!**

Relentless Chapter 21

"This is a bad idea," James muttered as they followed the doctor up multiple flights of stairs. He should have killed the doctor, and they should have fled the city.

"What other choice do we have? We need a place to stay, and he has a place for us," Anna whispered back. James had said it himself, they couldn't survive in the shadows. They needed to blend in. What better way to blend in then to become part of the community?

"I don't trust him not to talk," James grumbled. He wasn't going to voice his solution to their problem aloud. Anna wouldn't approve of killing an innocent. She had yet to learn that even an innocent would turn them over to Hydra to save their own skin.

"He's a doctor working with government funding for his tiny clinic, hiring a foreign surgeon without a license under the radar. If he talks, he goes down with us," Anna insisted. The man was taking a risk with them, he wouldn't tell authorities for fear of losing what little government funding he was receiving.

"And if Hydra gets to him?" Hydra had ways of getting people to tell them what they wanted. By either offering funding or protection, or by threatening death.

"Then we disappear again," Anna reassured him as they came to a stop in front of an old apartment door on the fifteenth floor.

It wasn't much. A one room apartment with a kitchenette on the right side and a mattress in the left corner serving as the bed. There was a tiny restroom on the side of the room and a two seater couch split the room in half.

"It's small, but it's all yours for as long as you work in the clinic," the doctor announced.

Turning to face James, Anya gave him a pleading look. As much as his instincts were telling him to get them out of Bucharest, maybe even out of Romania, he couldn't ignore the hope in her eyes. This could be their chance to start over. Anna could continue to work as a doctor, and they could live a semblance of a normal life.

"We'll take it," James answered, causing Anna to smile. She knew how hard it was for him to agree to it. She knew how much he wanted to run again.

"Excellent!" The doctor exclaimed. "I will get the supplies you mentioned and you will start tomorrow," he added to Anna before leaving them in the apartment that was now theirs.

"Thank you," Anna murmured, moving closer to James and resting her hand against his cheek. Placing his hand over hers, James turned his face to press a kiss against her palm, his eyes fluttering shut.

"I would do anything for you," James admitted against Anya's hand, his eyes still closed.

…

"Are you sure this is going to work, sir?" Gustin asked as the small unit disembarked the plane.

"Konrad reported Rumlow moving southeast from Munich. Stark and the asset are somewhere in Eastern Europe. I know the asset. He'll want revenge. He won't pass up this opportunity," Rollins responded.

Once the tail they had on Rumlow had reported his most recent destination, Rollins knew it was time to make his move. The Avengers had just finished battling the AI Tony had created. They were weak. Now was the time to strike against them, and it seemed Rumlow had inadvertently given them the perfect opportunity to take care of the asset and Anna as well as deal a crushing blow to the Avengers.

"How are they supposed to make the connection between Hydra and AAST?" Gustin pressed. After Romanoff leaked Hydra and SHIELD files to the world, Hydra had to be even more careful when it came to businesses they were a part of. It wasn't as if they could slap a Hydra sign on the news article to draw in the asset and the girl.

"You just worry about reeling in Ms. Potts and let me deal with the asset and Stark," Rumlow insisted as he slid into the car that was waiting for them. Rumlow had no doubts about getting the asset and Anna to come out and play. The company's logo had been all over Stark's lab at Hydra. If she remembered anything about her time there, it would be AAST.

…

The first few days Anya worked in the clinic James would stay all day in the small waiting area. He didn't want to leave her alone with the doctor or the patients. The first time he left her alone in the clinic was more out of force than choice. They'd run out of money after a week and he needed to pick up some more jobs. The doctor let them have the apartment, but they still needed food.

"Keep a scalpel on hand at all times," James insisted, kissing Anya on the side of her forehead as she washed the few dishes they had before forcing himself to leave the apartment. He'd already gone over the plan should anything happen. They had a meeting place and had gone over several exit strategies.

A warm, happy feeling settled in Anna's heart at how domestic and normal James' goodbye had felt. True, his parting words were anything but normal, and was a soft reminder that they weren't completely safe in Romania. But still, those tiny moments of normal felt like paradise to her. Drying her hands, she turned to look around their tiny apartment. It was still rather bare, but it was theirs.

Glancing towards the far corner, Anna crossed the room when she noticed the twisted blanket on their mattress. James had rarely slept during the past week, but when he did he always tossed in his sleep and muttered Russian phrases Anna had never heard him utter before. The first time Anna had tried to sooth James out of his night terror, he caught her wrist in a painful hold until he realized where he was. After a couple nights he grew accustomed to Anna moving his head into her lap and running her fingers through his hair. Her touch always seemed to calm him.

The two of them fell into a tentative routine of working, shopping for food, and consoling each other when their dreams turned to nightmares. The journal they had taken from the abandoned office in France started being filled with blurry memories. It was a tentative normal existence that Anna was getting accustomed to and that wasn't broken until halfway through the second week. When news of Sokovia hit Bucharest, Anna wanted to contact Tony.

"They're my family, James," Anna pleaded, tears prickling her eyes. Steve, Nat, Bruce, Clint, and Thor were as much her siblings as Tony. She needed to know her family was safe, and wanted them to know she was safe in turn. Hearing one of her patients discussing the events of Sokovia had her freezing up and the reminder of the family she left behind had a wave of homesickness hitting her hard.

"I know," he murmured pulling her closer and pressing a soft kiss to the jagged scar along her forehead from their plunge over the bridge so many weeks ago. He hated seeing Anya cry, but Hydra had come so close to killing them both and he couldn't forget that. "If I bring you proof that they are all safe, would that be enough?"

As much as Anna wished she could reach out to her brother, she knew James was right. Hydra wanted them both dead. They'd barely managed to escape Rollins' and the country alive. She'd been so enthralled with their increasingly normal life the past few weeks, she'd let her imagination get the best of her and convince her the world was safe for them to come out of hiding. When she silently nodded her head in agreement she felt James' muscles relax beneath her fingers.

It didn't take long for him to find his proof. James brought back a paper that showed all the Avengers had made it out alive, pictures and all. It had the tight ball of anxiety in Anna's heart loosening some. Flipping through the rest of the paper that Anna could only half understand, she stopped on the first page of the business section.

Reaching for her journal that lay beside the mattress on the floor, Anna flipped through the pages frantically until she came to a doodle she'd drawn several days ago. At the time she drew it she had no idea what it meant. She'd woken up from another confusing, Hydra filled night terror with that design in her head. She hadn't realized what it meant until she saw the paper. Turning the journal upside down it matched perfectly with the logo for the company on page six of the paper, a Bulgarian company called AAST: Advanced Application of Science and Technology.

"Can you translate this article for me?" Anna asked, holding the paper out to James as she folded herself beside him on the couch. He took it looking a bit taken aback.

"It's just an announcement of the company's advancement in biologics and how they are starting trials on genetic enhancement. Why?" James asked after scanning the article.

"Because I recognize the logo," Anna responded, tapping the top left side of the picture. "I saw it on boxes of samples I was studying while at Hydra," Anna added, placing her journal beside the paper.

…

"This is insanity," Anna muttered as she watched James zipping up the backpack. That time it was filled with chemicals that Anna knew exploded when combined. He was suiting up for another mission, but this one was his own choice. When she watched him packing the bag, vengeance burned in his eyes. There would be no talking him down. He'd waited seventy years for revenge on Hydra. Anna inadvertently handed him the first opportunity to do damage to the organization that stole his mind and his life.

"Keep your head down and stay in the building while I'm gone," James instructed once he'd gotten everything he needed together. Leaving Anya had a weight settling in the pit of his stomach. But he couldn't pass up the opportunity of burning down part of Hydra, or at least a company loyal to them. Not when the building was a matter of hours away. He'd be gone a day, two max. If Anya stuck to the apartment and the clinic on the first floor, she'd be fine.

"I don't like this," Anna whispered as she stepped up to him, one hand on his chest, the other on his cheek. She should be going with him, but he'd presented a vehemently logical argument against it. Christian, the doctor who'd given her the job and the apartment, had already gotten word around that he could take emergency cases. If Anna wasn't at the clinic or readily available when a patient who needed sutures or surgery came in, and he died, she wouldn't be able to forgive herself. If she wanted to keep the life they were starting to build in Romania, she needed to stay.

"Promise you'll come back safe?" Anna added, her hand trembling against James' cheek at the thought of something going wrong. She wouldn't be there to stitch him up if something did.

Instead of making promises he might not be able to keep, James wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer until his lips met hers. She stood on the tips of her toes to meet him halfway, her lips pressing hard against his and giving away her desperation.

"I love you," James sighed against Anya's lips. Shouldering the bag he left without a backward glance. One last look at Anya's face would make leaving that much harder.

Choking back her fear, Anna made her way down the stairwell after James left. If anything would distract her from her worries, it was work. A steady flow of patients kept her busy the first day, but alone in their apartment at night the fear crept back in. Anna woke from her own screaming, but for the first time in weeks it wasn't from her memories of Hydra. It was the visions of James being slaughtered by Hydra while he fought for vengeance. For the first time, James wasn't there to calm her down and ease her back to sleep.

…

James arrived in Bulgaria just as night was falling. He used the cover of darkness to stake out his new target. The building was dark, but security guards would pass by windows on different floors sporadically. After watching for a half hour, James had their routine down. They'd start on the top floor, doing two sweeps before moving down to the next floor. Each floor took them about five minutes each. If he entered while they were on the top floor, it gave him plenty of time to sneak into the basement without being seen. He could wait there until the morning, when the building would be full, then set up the rudimentary explosives he had brought with him. The only uncertainty was how he would get out.

The only entrance to the basement of the facility was inside the building. Slipping out unnoticed during the day would be harder than slipping in during the night. The newspaper had showcased several photos of AAST in the article. One being the front entrance. A security desk sat right off the entrance, manned by two men. James would have no trouble taking them down, but if more came while he fought there was a chance he wouldn't make it out.

As soon as James saw the shadows pass the top windows again, he made his move. Keeping to the shadows until he reached the door, he used his left hand to force it open. He followed the signs to the elevators, knowing the stairwell would be near them. James was almost there when another guard stepped out from the corner, shining a flashlight in James' eyes and holding a Taser. Cursing in Russian under his breath at the guard's stupidity, James launched himself at the guard before he could even shoot the Taser. In one swift movement, James had his left arm around the man's neck and used his right to twist the guard's head until he felt the bones snap and break.

After stashing the guards Taser and flashlight in his pockets, James hoisted the dead weight of the guard over his shoulder and started towards the basement again. It wouldn't do for any of the other guards to stumble across his dead body and be alerted to James' presence in the building. It wasn't until he made it to the basement that he realized he had the perfect means of escaping the building without being too obvious about it. After removing the chemicals from the back pack, James' stripped down and folded his clothes into the bag. It took a little more effort to remove the guard's uniform, but he managed. The uniform was a little snug in the shoulders, and the hem of the pants just reached the top of his boots, but it would do. Now all he had to do was wait.

…

"Ms. Potts, thank you for accepting our invitation," Dr. Greenwich greeted the stern looking blonde as she entered the board room.

"You were quite persistent. I figured I'd give you a chance after your hundredth call," Pepper retorted. She was admittedly a little curious of what the company had to pitch to STARK industries, but she was mostly annoyed that they couldn't meet in New York. She'd had to catch a red eye to Bulgaria.

"Would you care for any refreshments before we start?" When Pepper declined, wanting to cut to the chase, Dr. Greenwich started in on a long winded presentation of everything they were researching at AAST. It was definitely impressive, if not morally grey. Halfway through the presentation, Pepper knew STARK industries would be declining once the presentation was over. As it was, they never made it to the end of the presentation.

It started with a muffled noise from below. Before Pepper could realize what was happening she was thrown back against the conference room wall. The world faded to black after that, with the smell of smoke the last thing she remembered.

…

"This doesn't look like a doctor's clinic," Julia commented doubtfully as they stood before a rundown building that looked more like apartments than a business building. At that point she was more than a little fed up with her brother. Tracking the Stark girl across Europe was long and not what Julia considered fun. All she wanted was to go home.

"The old man gave specific directions," Brock retorted before heading inside. The building didn't look like much, but there was a sign outside the first door on the left that looked official. It was in Romanian, but seeing as the other doors had no sign, Brock figured it had to be the place they were looking for.

They entered into a long room that had several mismatched chairs along the wall. A man in his mid-forties stood behind a small desk, going through some papers. He looked up when he heard the door open, but his welcoming smile faltered as he took in Brock. Not only did he have multiple guns strapped to him that were visible to the man, but he was sure his face played a decent part in the man's reaction.

"Do you speak English?" Brock asked, his expression hard as he stopped before the desk.

"Some," Christian spoke, hesitant of the heavily armed man before him. The burns on his face and body only added to the sense of unease, so he played up his accent when he spoke.

"I heard you have a new doctor. This her?" Brock pressed, removing a photo taken from the surveillance videos of Anna when she had been with Hydra and sliding it across the desk.

Anna hadn't thought anything off it at the sound of the clinic door opening. It was earlier than normal for patients to start arriving, but there had been an increase in patients and Dr. Christian had extended their hours of operation. It wasn't until the muffled voice of a man filtered through the thin clinic walls that Anna realized it wasn't just another patient.

Freezing in the middle of her organizing, Anna's hand gripped the examining table as she sucked in a shaky breath. She recognized the gravelly voice and it sent shivers down her spine. Rumlow had found her. And there was only a thin sheet of dry wall and a door between them. Reaching towards the instrument tray, she gripped a scalpel in her hand, preparing for Christian to give her away. He had no way of knowing Rumlow meant her harm, nor that she wasn't a fugitive on the run. He had no reason not to tell Rumlow about her.

"Two weeks ago…she came in with man…not breathing. I help her, then she help patient that came in. They stay few days then leaves." Anna heard Christian's heavy accent falsely struggle to spit out the broken English. His words shocked her. He was lying for her. Before she could think too hard on why that was, the sound of glass shattering caused her to jump and she prayed Rumlow wouldn't hurt Christian.

"You're saying she's not here anymore?" Rumlow's voice sounded calmer than Anna expected, but it still sent another chill down her spine. God please don't let him find her.

"No, not here for days," Christian responded in the same broken English, his voice shaking slightly on the last word.

There was a nervous glint in the man's eyes that had Brock reaching forward to grip the man's throat.

"If you're lying to me, you die," Brock growled out. The man physically flinched but insisted what he said was the truth. "Check the room," Brock ordered Julia, keeping his hold on the doctor's throat. If the man was lying, he wasn't going to give him the chance to get away. He'd be dead before he could try to offer any explanation.

Anna didn't think her heart could beat any faster when she heard Brock's response to Christian. He wasn't alone, and whoever was with him was about to find her. Scanning the room, even though she knew there was nowhere to hide, Anna gripped the scalpel tighter and readied herself for the inevitable. A scalpel wasn't the best weapon, but at least she had lots of practice with it. It felt more comfortable in her hand than any of the weapons James had trained her with. If only James was there. He'd think of something to do. Now he'd come back to find Christian dead and Anna gone with no clues as to who had taken her or where she was.

The door swung open slowly, revealing a woman only a few inches taller than Anna who was dressed in jeans and a tee with no visible weapons on her person. It wasn't at all what Anna was expecting and she was momentarily stunned at how normal the woman seemed. Unable to force herself to attack the woman who was unarmed and looked just as uncertain as Anna, the two simply stood there staring at one another as the seconds ticked by. Anna couldn't keep her body from trembling in fear as she waited for her presence to be declared. Eventually the woman called out to Rumlow, her eyes never leaving Anna's.

"It's empty. He's telling the truth." Anna's eyes widened in shock at the woman's words. This stranger who was supposedly on Rumlow's side was covering for her. Perhaps she was as much a pawn under him as Anna had been when her memories were modified. Whatever the reason, Anna knew the woman had just saved her mind, if not her life as well. Before the woman closed the door, Anna mouthed the words thank you to her. The woman simply nodded her head before shutting the door.

"Where did they go?!" Rumlow demanded, moving his hand from the man's throat to the collar of his shirt and pulling him closer. He couldn't lose Anna's trail. He couldn't lose Anna. He'd come too far, sacrificed too much, to let her get away.

"I don't know. Headed West out of building. That's all I know. He call her by Russian name, so maybe Russia?" Christian babbled, hoping the man would believe him now and leave. After the burnt man narrowed his eyes and studied him closely, he released Christian's shirt and abruptly turned. The woman who had followed the burnt man in, who had covered for Christian by claiming Anna wasn't in the next room, kept her head down as she passed his desk and followed the menacing man out.

When the clinic's front door slammed shut, Anna felt her body collapse to the floor with relief. The adrenaline that had taken over when she heard Rumlow's voice disappeared once the threat was removed. That's where Christian found her, her legs sprawled out on the exam room floor and her back pressed against the examining table.

"You lied for me," Anna greeted him as he lowered himself in front of her. She still couldn't believe Christian had covered for her. Yes, she helped him with patients, but he barely knew her. Then again, this was the guy that offered her a job and a place to live within minutes of meeting her.

"He looked like bad news," Christian shrugged, his English returning to normal. Despite his forced nonchalance, Anna could tell Rumlow's visit had freaked Christian out as much as it had freaked her out. She could just picture how frantic and desperate Rumlow looked when he was told Anna wasn't there.

"He is. You could call him a stalker of sorts," Anna breathed out, still trying to calm her nerves. She had come so close to being taken again. If one tiny thing had gone differently, if Christian hadn't lied, if the woman had told the truth, if Rumlow had looked for her himself in the exam room, she'd be a prisoner to a mad man whose obsession had grown too deep.

"Well, hopefully that is the last we see of him. He seemed to buy my story." Anna prayed Rumlow bought the story, and wouldn't run into any of her more recent patients that would contradict it. Both would put Christian and herself in a very deadly situation.

"You look shaken, would you like a drink?" Christian asked after taking a seat against the opposite wall. Yes. A drink sounded good right about then.

Reaching into the supply cabinet beside him, Christian pulled out two paper cups and a bottle of whiskey. Setting the glasses on the ground, he poured out a hefty amount before handing Anna a cup. The liquid burned as it went down and warmed Anna's whole body. She still gripped the scalpel tightly in her right hand as she drank. She planned on taking it home with her. After today, she wasn't letting her guard down until James returned. At the reminder of why James had left, Anna took another big swig from her cup. Maybe she'd take the alcohol home as well.

* * *

 _A/N Hello lovelies! Happy almost Halloween. I hope you enjoyed the update! I have some exciting news._ _ **I UPLOADED SEVERAL VIDEOS ON MY YOUTUBE THAT I MADE BASED ON REHABILITATE/RELENTLESS! I am soooo excited for you guys to see them I spent a lot of time on them. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS SEARCH JANYA ON YOUTUBE AND YOU SHOULD FIND THEM. MY USERNAME IS MY NAME, Rachel S.**_ _You can personal message me if you have trouble finding it. If you search the title of the videos along with my username Rachel S. the videos should show up. The titles of the videos are as followed:_

 _The wort day of loving someone_

 _It was hell here too_

 _Maybe I'm terrified of Losing you_

 _You're my home_

 _We're lucky to have each other_

 _I made a Janya playlist so they're all in there on my profile._

 _Onto Guest review responses!_

 _JoCa: Here's the update you requested. Hope you enjoyed it!_

 _Sophie: I will be continuing the civil war storyline. I haven't decided what I'm going to do with Rumlow yet, but I agree he is an interesting character._


	22. Chapter 22

Relentless Chapter 22

" _Now am I crazy, why can no one understand that I'll never find a better man? I'm just imagining a life without my baby and I know, I know, this life ain't meant to be lived without him." Without him Christina Grimmie._

* * *

"How much longer are we going to do this?" Julia huffed as she trekked behind Brock. They'd made it to the Ukraine two days ago and he still showed no signs of giving up.

"Until we find her," Brock grunted out, shifting the weight of the bag on his shoulders. The weapons inside it were necessary, but that didn't make the weight of the straps digging into his shoulders any more bearable.

"What if we never find her?" Julia sighed, thinking back several days ago when she let her ticket back home slip through her hands. She had every intention of telling Brock the truth when she found who she assumed was Anna standing in the clinic room. Yet she didn't. She couldn't. Not with the Doctor's life on the line. And especially not with Anna staring at her with pure terror in her eyes. She was shaking so hard, Julia was surprised she could keep the scalpel she gripped like a lifeline from slipping out of her hand. Julia recognized that look. It was a look she had seen staring back at her from the mirror while growing up, when her dad would go on one of his tirades.

"I will," Brock spat back, his fists clenching. He would find Anna and make the asset and anyone else who had stood in his way pay for it. "No matter what or how long it takes."

"Well I'm done putting my life on hold for a girl who so obviously doesn't want to be with you," Julia snapped, stopping in her tracks and crossing her arms. "You need help. Mentally. Come home with me and stop this wild goose chase. Find someone who actually wants to be with you," Julia pleaded. Brock was her brother, she wanted him to be happy, but he had gone too far off the deep end this time. The girl he was supposedly in love with, or obsessed with, because Julia really didn't know which it was, was terrified of him. She had been prepared to fight for her life before going with Brock. He needed to wake up from his delusion and stop fighting for someone who would never love him.

"You know nothing," Brock shouted, turning towards his sister. She didn't understand. She didn't get it. And if she wasn't on his side, she didn't need to be there at all. "You've never even met her. If you're not going to help then go. I don't need you to find her."

"Just don't come crawling to me the next time your plans blow up in your face and you need a place to crash," Julia bit out, turning back towards the train station they'd come from. It didn't take long for the guilt to start. Memories of Brock protecting her from their father almost made her turn back, almost made her tell him where to find Anna in an attempt to repay him for the years he'd protected her. It was the memory of Anna's wide eyes and pale face that pressed her forward. She wouldn't let her brother do to Anna what their father had done to their mother.

...

James lost track of time as he sat waiting for daylight, for the building to fill with people. He sat through hours of silence until slowly it got disrupted by the scuffing of shoes above him and the ding of elevator doors. A new day had started, but he continued to wait. If he wanted to do the maximum damage, then the building would have to be filled with as many people as possible.

Using the dead guard's watch, James started setting things up a couple hours after the normal start of the business day. It gave late comers a chance to join the fray. Creating a trail of liquid leading from the stairs to the canisters, James estimated he'd have at least seventy seconds to get out of the building and out of the radius of the explosion. It was tight, but it was the best he could do. At half past the hour he pulled a matchbook he'd salvaged from the abandoned gas station in Germany. Striking the match, he let the fire burn halfway down the stick before dropping it to the floor. Watching just long enough to ensure the liquid caught fire, James began sprinting up the stairs. His footprints were heavy against the metal stairs, and they creaked beneath his weight. Slipping through the door onto the main floor, James found it bustling with commotion. Keeping his head down, and gripping his bag tight he headed through the lobby towards the front doors. He almost made it to the doors when a guard behind the desk called out to him.

"We need to check your bag after your shift," the guard insisted in Bulgarian. James only understood what he meant from the broken bits of the language he knew, and the pointed stare the guard was sending at the backpack slung over James' shoulder.

Shrugging out of the straps, James handed the bag over, debating on leaving without it. He estimated thirty seconds had already passed. The bag and the clothes in it were replaceable. Decision made, he was about to turn and leave when the bag was slid back over the counter to him. As soon as his fingers wrapped around the strap he started towards the doors. He didn't risk running until he was down the front steps. He made it about twenty feet away before the building went up in flames and smoke. It was close enough for the energy from the blast to send him flying face first onto the concrete sidewalk.

James felt the warm trail of blood before he felt the pain. Moving slowly to his knees, then his feet, there was a shrill ringing in his ears that was throwing off his equilibrium. Glancing down at his right leg it was hard to tell where the blood was coming from as it soaked through the front side of his pants. It wasn't hard to find the cause of his injury, as blood covered a sharp shard of metal from the building he'd fled from.

Gritting his teeth at the pain, James shrugged out of the guard's shirt. After feeling blindly across his thigh, James hissed in pain when his fingers pressed against the gash the metal had made. Tying the shirt tightly around the wound, he started limping away from the scene hoping the commotion behind him would distract the crowd from the man limping away wearing a white undershirt and a button up knotted around his leg. When the ringing died down some, he could hear sirens in the distance. The sirens had him trying his best to speed up his escape. It wouldn't be long before the police showed up and the last thing he needed was to be shoved in the back of an ambulance.

Sticking to back alleys and less populated streets, James limped his way back to the train yard. Every step had his leg burning with pain, but he couldn't stop. He had to get out of there. He had to make it back to Romania. To Anya. Though he hadn't promised her he'd return safe, or even at all, he'd subconsciously promised himself.

A bullet whizzing by him, inches in front of his eyes, had James turning from his thoughts towards the mouth of the alley he was passing by. The sound of another gunshot had him dropping to the concrete floor to avoid the bullet. Standing halfway down the alley was a shadowed figure clutching a glock. Seconds before the man could shoot off another round, James forced his body to react. Pushing off the street with his good leg, James threw himself at his attacker, tackling him to the ground. Before the man could raise the gun again, James' metal hand had it pinned to the concrete while his right hand clenched around the man's throat.

"Hail Hydra," the man choked out, causing James right hand to flex. But the man wasn't talking to James. His eyes were focused just over James' shoulder. Without the glance giving him away, James might not have heard the scuffing of a boot against the street. Moving his hand from the Hydra agent's throat to his shoulder, James flipped them just as another gunshot rang out. The man's body jolted in pain at the impact of the bullet before he slumped in James' arms, becoming a dead weight. Flinging the body away, James rolled to the side behind a dumpster as a fourth shot echoed off the walls of the alley.

"I've been looking for you," the familiar voice of Rollins called out to James as he crouched behind the cover of the dumpster. "I didn't expect to find you alone. Did Rumlow get to Stark first?"

Ignoring the panic that shot through him when Rollins' mentioned Anya, knowing it was nothing more than a distraction tactic, James glanced around his surroundings for an advantage. The sound of a magazine clicking loose presented James with the opportunity he'd been looking for. Gritting his teeth, James prepared himself for the pain that was sure to radiate through his leg. Rollins was reloading, meaning James had a small window to disarm and disable him without getting shot in the process. Rotating his body around the edge of the dumpster, James had to press off with his bad leg, which slowed him down a bit. Rollins had the gun loaded by the time he got to him, and James just managed to get a hold of his wrist and twist the gun from his hand before he fired. When it clattered loudly against the ground, James kicked it out of reach before smashing his metal fist into Rollin's jaw.

Rollins' managed to block his next hit, sending a hard kick to James' right thigh. It had James collapsing, his injured leg buckling under the pain that shot through it. Another kick to the face had James dropping at Rollin's feet. Before Rollins could make another move against him, James desperately reached out, crushing Rollins' ankle and Achilles in his metal hand. Rollins joined him on the floor after that and with his throat now within reach, James squeezed it as hard as his right hand could, crushing it like he had Rollin's ankle.

When Rollins' body sagged lifeless against the ground, James slumped back in relief. He only allowed himself a moment of rest before tightening the shirt around his leg, which was already saturated with blood, and pushing himself to his feet. He needed to move before more Hydra agents found him.

It was even slower moving than before, his gait seriously affected by his leg. Thankfully the ringing had faded out completely, reassuring him he hadn't permanently damaged his hearing. When he finally made it to the train yard, James barely had enough energy to hoist himself up into a north bound car. Leaning against the wooden side of the box car, James didn't relax until the train began moving. For the moment, he was safe from retaliation, from Rollins' unit. Now he just had to make sure he didn't bleed out before he made it back to Anya.

…

The crashing of the waiting room door against the exam room wall had Anna jumping. The scalpel she'd kept with her ever since Rumlow showed up slipped from her shaking hand and clattering to the desk she sat at. When she saw James slumped against the doorway, beads of sweat on his forehead and his right pants leg colored red from blood, her heart clenched and her hands shook for a completely different reason.

"What happened?" Anna asked, rushing to James' side. Pulling his arm over her shoulder, she attempted to help support some of his weight as she led him back to the exam room. Christian's allergy appointment would have to be finished in the waiting room. James needed treated as soon as possible. By the looks of it he'd lost a lot of blood. He might even be on the verge of going into shock. She knew it was a bad idea to let him go alone.

"Metal from the building sliced my thigh. Then I ran into Rollins on my way out of the city," James murmured, his breathing ragged. He was trying hard to keep his eyes open. It was harder now he was with Anya. He'd run on adrenaline since the train hit Bucharest. As soon as he made it back to her, his body started fighting against him to shut down. Focusing on anything was difficult. He didn't even really register sitting down, but there he was sitting on the examining table.

"Hey, stay with me," Anna ordered, taking James' face in her hands and tapping her fingers lightly against his cheeks. Without knowing the extent of the damage, it was imperative James' remained conscious. When his eyes met hers they looked bleary, but he did as she said and kept them open.

Grabbing the medical scissors from a drawer, Anna used them to cut the length of James' right pants leg. There was so much blood the pants stuck to his skin and Anya had to ease the material away from his leg to get a better look at the wound. Using a damp cloth, she wiped away the layers of red until she could make out the source, a vertical gash about four inches long and a finger width's deep. Keeping her anxiety at arm's length, Anna went into doctor mode.

Working on autopilot, Anna pulled the supplies she'd need from the medicine cart: muscle blocker, needle, thread, antibiotics, gloves, and disinfectant. Step by step she worked as fast as she could, though every once in a while she'd catch her hand shaking during the process. She had to clean the area again before getting started after waiting for the muscle blocker to kick in. With deft fingers she began sewing up the wound, pausing every once in a while to make sure James was still with her. She caught his eyelids drooping halfway through, making her call out to him until they widened a bit.

"You definitely have a concussion," Anya's voice was distorted as it echoed in his head. She was shining an annoying light in his eyes and he just wanted it all to stop. He wanted to sleep and succumb to oblivion, but Anya wasn't finished with her examination of his injuries. Truth was, he couldn't feel any of them at the moment. He was barely hanging on to consciousness.

Anna had to have Christian help her get James up the 15 flights to their apartment. After stitching him up and giving him a tetanus shot there was nothing more she could do for James. He needed to rest, but with the concussion he wouldn't be getting much of it. Every three hours she'd need to wake him and ask him basic questions to make sure he didn't have any intracranial bleeding. They had a long night ahead of them.

"What's your name?" Anya whispered once James' blinked his eyes open. It was the third time she'd eased him out of sleep with another question. They weren't difficult, but sometimes it took him a few seconds to answer. Mostly because his brain felt so heavy and seemed to process things slower than normal. He wasn't sure if it was caused by the concussion or his sleep deprivation.

"James," he mumbled back, letting his eyes flutter closed afterwards. He'd given the required response, meaning he'd have three more hours until he was asked another one.

Suppressing a yawn, Anna turned back to the journal. Her worry was the only thing keeping her awake. She couldn't get the image of James covered in his own blood and looking as though he would collapse at any moment out of her head. It was the worst Anna had seen him. She could have lost him today. It was a miracle he made it back to Romania, let alone back to the clinic and Anna.

Anna didn't realize she was crying until a tear fell on the journal, staining the page and blurring the word it fell on. Even after patching James up, she could still lose him. If there was more serious damage, if his brain was bleeding or if she missed something small but important during her exam, he could slip away from her before she had time to remedy it. Moving from her spot on the couch, Anna slipped under the covers beside James and scooted closer to him. It didn't erase her anxiety, but being closer helped alleviate some of it.

The sun had been up for a couple hours before Anna and James started getting any real rest. After a night full of pockets of sleep interrupted by questions, Anna was reassured that there was no internal bleeding. It was just a concussion. Curling up against James' left side she allowed herself to fall asleep for the first time in twenty-seven hours.

A handful of hours later, Anna woke up in a cold sweat from a nightmare that mixed all her fears into one horrible dream. Reaching for the scalpel she had kept under the mattress the previous night her hand met nothing but the cool wood of the floor. She forgot she'd left it on the desk in the clinic after James returned. Easing herself off the mattress, she managed to not wake James as she made her way to their tiny bathroom. She hoped a shower would help wash away her nightmares that still lingered even in consciousness. At the very least, the shower would wash away the sticky sweat that covered her body.

James woke to an empty bed and the sound of the shower running. His throat was dry and scratchy, his head was pulsating, and his right leg throbbed with pain. Easing himself to the edge of the mattress, he used the wall to help him maneuver himself to his feet and followed the line of it to the kitchen. Grabbing the pain pills Anya kept in the top cupboard, he filled a glass of water and downed it all while taking the medicine. As soon as it was gone he filled the glass to the brim again, gulping it down. He was about to fill the glass again when the creaking of the bathroom door had him turning and leaning against the counter as Anya emerged with wet hair. She had a towel wrapped around her and nothing else, her old clothes balled in her arms.

"I see you can walk," Anna murmured, dropping her clothes in the corner before crossing the room. "You really had a number done on you. How are you feeling?"

"Better," James answered honestly. The relief at being home was enough to ease the pain, and Anya's medical attention had only added to his current state. He wouldn't be ready to wage war against Hydra anytime soon, but he wasn't dead or dying.

"Well, I hope you enjoyed your revenge, because you won't be going anywhere anytime soon. You're not going on any renegade mission without me. Ever," Anna insisted firmly, though it was hard to feel authoritative donned in only a towel. "You scared me," she added, her voice softening at those words.

Reaching out for Anya's hands, James tugged her closer before tilting her chin up until their eyes meet.

"I'm sorry," James murmured sincerely. "I can't promise something like this won't happen again, that I won't walk away from a fight with injuries or worse not walk away from it at all. But I can promise I will always try my damnedest to come back to you."

"Life doesn't have to be a war. I don't want it to be a war," Anna retorted. War resulted in casualties, and the good guys didn't always win.

"Soldiers are made for war. What would I be if there wasn't a war?" The American government had trained him for war, the Red Room molded him into the Winter Soldier, and Hydra used him to destroy lives. James wasn't sure he would know how to live in a world without war.

"You'd be James. The man who saved my life, and keeps saving it. The man who is strong, and loyal, and brave, and a little broken. But that's okay because I'm a little broken too. You'd be the man who loves me. The man I can't live without." Tears glistened in Anya's eyes by the time she finished, and her words mixed with the tears had guilt and affection tugging at his heart.

"You make it sound so easy," James murmured, his metal thumb brushing lightly against Anya's cheek. Her eyes drifted shut at his touch and it had him moving his other hand to frame her face. Leaning in for a chaste kiss that quickly deepened, James was about to slip his hand down and remove the towel covering Anya when she pulled back.

"No. Nuh uh. Not with your injuries," Anna insisted. Her voice lacked assurance as she tried to prevent herself from diving back in.

"They're not so bad," James retaliated, taking a step closer, which only resulted in Anna forcing herself to take another step back and fold her arms over her chest.

"Don't you even try saying 'you should see the other guy,'" Anna added, trying to keep the conversation going. As long as they were talking, they weren't kissing. James lost a lot of blood, he had stitches, bruises, cuts and a concussion. The last thing they needed to be doing was anything physical.

"The other guys are dead," James responded nonchalantly, momentarily stunning Anna. "Rollins is dead."

The relief she felt from his statement was fleeting as James once again had her wrapped in his arms. How was she supposed to refuse him when he was so close? It wasn't as if she didn't want to be as physically close to him as possible, especially after her nightmare and the reality that she almost lost him. She was trying to do what was best for his health.

"Yeah, well you were almost right there with him. So no strenuous activities until you've had time to heal. Doctor's orders." Even at a slow pace it could all be too much for James. It wasn't a good idea to do anything that would raise his blood pressure.

"You know I recall you being fine with strenuous activities whenever you were hurt," James grumbled, recalling how she hadn't let him stop them the night of the masquerade.

"That was different," Anna countered.

"You were shot," James deadpanned, his eyes boring into her.

"It was a graze wound which is on a completely different level to you almost dying of blood loss from a gash that was inches from nicking your femoral artery." James ducked his head at that, relenting to Anya's arguments. It was clear he wasn't going to win, and if he was honest, no matter how badly he wanted her he knew his injuries wouldn't allow him to.

"Will you at least lay with me while I rest?" James whispered, lacing his fingers with hers. Upon hearing he wouldn't challenger her on the topic anymore, Anya's shoulders released some of their tension. Her response was a small 'of course' before she went to dress in something less tempting. Those were her words of course. James knew whatever Anya was wearing she'd still be tempting. It wasn't just her body that tempted him. It was her mind, her soul, her heart. Everything about her had him hooked. And as long as she was near, and looked at him like he was the best thing to happen to her, he'd be satisfied. He loved being intimate with her, but he loved just being around her more.

* * *

 _A/N: hello my lovely readers! I hope you enjoyed this latest installment and I cannot wait to hear your opinions! I'm having so much fun writing right now! Just a reminder this story has a pinterest page and I just uploaded a couple new pins to it. You can find it by highlighting and copying the link below. You might have to erase the spaces seeing as fanfiction doesn't let you paste regular links in._

 _www._

 _Pinterest_

 _.com_

 _/lyricalheart14_

 _/relentless/_

 _Onto Guest review responses!_

 _Hannah: Always happy to hear you liked the chapter! Hope you liked this one as well :)_

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

 _"I want all the strings attached. Love it when you look at me like that. And you're the only girl that brings me back. Cause baby I want all the strings attached. It's like always and forever, I won't let a moment pass. And when I'm with you I feel better. I want all the strings, all the strings attached." Strings by Shawn Mendes_

* * *

It took a several days before James could start walking without the help of the walls, furniture, or Anna. They spent most of those days snuggled on their mattress drinking hot tea and avoiding discussing anything but happy trivial musings of the future. Those little distractions that passed the time turned to hope in Anna's heart. Hope for a future that was free of hiding and from Hydra. But it was back to real life and the clinic once James was mobile.

Although Anna was happy with James' progress in healing, she felt her anxiety grow at the thought that she still had to tell him about Rumlow. She'd been evading the subject, enjoying their mini vacation from reality. Now that she was faced with admitting what had happened on her end while he was gone, she couldn't help but feel she should have told him when he was still out of commission. At least then he wouldn't insist on going after Rumlow as well.

"I need to tell you something and I really need you to not go into Winter Soldier mode," Anna finally spoke up a week after the...incident. It was early morning, she was getting ready to head down to the clinic after breakfast, which James was just handing her when she spoke up.

"This doesn't sound promising," James retorted as he eased himself down on the couch beside Anya, wincing when a sharp pain radiated from the still raw gash across his leg. The stitches pulled against his skin as it stretched and it stung.

"While you were in Bulgaria, Rumlow came to the clinic," Anna spat out, hoping saying it fast would make it easier.

"What?" James ground out, his eyes losing the warmth they'd held moments before when they were cooking eggs.

"He didn't see me, and Christian covered for me by telling him we'd moved on. I still have no idea why he lied for me or how he stuck to it with Rumlow's threats but he did and everything is fine because Rumlow hasn't showed up again which meant he bought it and we're fine. Right?" Anna rambled on, trying to get James' to relax the tense set of his jaw. Judging by his clenched fists, it was having the opposite effect.

"I never should have left you alone," James muttered, cursing himself for his naivety. Just because things had been okay for them the past few weeks, didn't mean the threat to Anya was gone.

"Did you miss the part where I'm fine? I wasn't taken. And I'm not the one with twenty-five stitches in my leg," Anna retorted. Between the two of them, she faired a lot better in her encounter.

"He could come back," James countered, unsatisfied with Anya's response.

"It's been a week. He's probably in Russia by now. Everything is fine, relax," Anna insisted, reaching out her right hand to squeeze his knee in a reassuring gesture.

James wasn't satisfied with just sitting and hoping Rumlow wouldn't come back and find them. The man wasn't completely stupid. He could figure it out. And they needed to be more prepared, down to the detail, what would happen if he did. James wasn't about to leave anything to chance.

"Wait, did I just hear you correctly. An escape plan instead of an attack plan?" Anna expected him to come up with some insane plan to track Rumlow across Eastern Europe. But just like back at Stark Tower, he was choosing leaving with her rather than enacting revenge.

"I'm not healed yet. I will have other chances to kill him, he's proven that by finding you twice." James shrugged, returning with their journal and opening to a blank page. He began sketching out the floor plan of their building and making bullet lists of ways to escape if under attack.

"You have fun planning our escape routes. I've got to get to the clinic," Anna murmured, pressing a kiss against James' cheek before shoveling a few bites of eggs in her mouth and heading out the door. She had no idea what would be awaiting her when she got back.

James insisted on going over every scenario and escape route he had mapped out during the day. And there were a lot of them. The first few were basic, dealing with leaving down the stairs or the fire escape on the west side of the building. When they got to the part of going from their small balcony to the next floor down, when escape from their floor wasn't possible, Anna started doubting her ability to successfully maneuver through those plans.

"You jumped out of Stark Tower and survived. Trust me, I can get us out of her using the balcony's," James insisted. He'd never put Anya's life at risk. If they had to use alternate routes of escape, he'd make sure she was safe.

"I'm hoping we never have to use any of these measures," Anna sighed, running a hand through her hair. "So where do we go once we've scaled down the side of the building?"

If they actually made it to the ground safely, they'd need a safe place to go. Somewhere to hide out until they could safely move on. Apparently James had already thought of that, as he took Anna's hand in his and started leading her out of their apartment. Thankfully they took the stairs instead of trying out the balcony plan.

"Once we reach the ground, however we reach the ground, we head east towards the main square. It will be easier to get lost in a crowd there," James explained as he led Anna down the street, following the path he was describing.

Anna knew it was meant to be an educational run through of their escape route. But with the sun burning reddish orange as the sky was starting to fade into night, it set a romantic background. They hadn't really been out around the town, together, in a while. Normally Anna spent her days in the clinic and her nights in the apartment. It was nice to be strolling along the streets of Bucharest holding hands with James.

"Now what?" Anna asked when they'd reached the epicenter of the square.

"Follow the alley directly across from the news stand until it intersects another at a dead end," James continued, tugging her along as they started towards the mouth of the alley. The romantic atmosphere died as the buildings on either side of them blocked out any view of the sunset.

They turned right at the end of the alleyway and followed it until they spilled out on a street Anna had never been on. Which actually wasn't too difficult seeing as she could count on one hand the amount of times she'd walked around the city. After two more turns down streets, right then left, they reached their safe haven should they ever be hunted down by Hydra or Rumlow.

It was a factory building by the looks of it. Unexpectedly it was still in use. In the far corner of the building there was a rectangle window that's lock was obviously broken. It was a little rusty, but with some elbow grease it swung in and allowed enough space for each of them to squeeze through one at a time. It was dark, but the window obviously led to the storage section of the factory.

"It's a functioning factory, won't we get caught?" Anna turned back to James, hating to poke holes in any part of his escape plan.

"I'd rather be caught by them than Hydra or Rumlow," James responded. "We'd only need to lay low for a day or two tops. There's enough equipment in storage to hide behind if anyone comes down to grab anything. And Rumlow and Hydra will be checking abandoned buildings over used ones."

"You really do think of everything, don't you?" Anna mused, tilting her head to the left as she studied James. He'd managed to come up with all of this in less than 24 hours. It was impressive.

"I like to be prepared. It lessens the chance of things going wrong," James responded with a shrug before lacing his fingers with Anya's. There was still time to catch the last few minutes of the sunset and he knew the perfect spot.

One block down was another apartment building with an accessible fire escape. Pulling the ladder down, James hoisted Anya up by the waist so she could climb up before he followed behind her. Thirteen stories later and they reached the roof with a view of the whole city spread out below them. The horizon was painted a burnt orange, stars already blinking in the light, royal blue sky directly above them.

"It's beautiful up here," Anna stated as she took in the view of Bucharest she'd yet to have the pleasure of seeing. Flashes of memories of a Brooklyn skyline at sunset had her recalling their first kiss. It felt like a lifetime ago, instead of the months it'd been.

James found his attention turned towards Anya, watching her hair blow lightly in the wind, and the corners of her lips turn up in a smile as she took in the city. His heart still beat faster around her and his feelings only grew stronger the longer he was with her. She still managed to hold on to her innocence even in the warzone that had been their lives; post-traumatic stress and all.

Every day he remembered more, and most of what he did remember he wished he could forgot. The innocent blood on his hands was overflowing. He'd tortured, and tormented, and killed with the same hands Anya held unapologetically. Even after she'd read his file. Sometimes he wondered when he'd reach her limit, when the blood he shed would be too much and tip her past the edge of forgiveness.

"What are you thinking about? Anna asked when she turned to find James' mouth set in a firm line, creases furrowing his brow. His eyes were a million miles away until she spoke. At least she'd managed to break his thoughts. Already his forehead was smoothed back as his lips lost their tense set.

"You're incredible," James murmured, letting his fingers trace the edges of Anya's face until they reached her jawline.

"You're being evasive," Anna retorted. His expression moments earlier hadn't been one of awe or love. It was a face that showed troubled thoughts lingered in James' mind. "But, I'll gladly take the complement anyways."

James couldn't keep a low chuckle from escaping at Anya's response. She was right, he was being evasive. Mostly because he felt if he kept mentioning all the reasons she shouldn't love him, she might start believing them. And he was becoming selfish when it came to Anya. And in the spirit of selfishness, he leaned closer to her, initiating their rooftop kiss that time.

…

"What do you think?" Anna asked as she wrapped a colorful scarf around her neck from the stand they stopped at. They were supposed to be shopping for food, but she couldn't resist the bright colored material billowing in the wind.

"It suits you very nicely," James responded, reaching forward to pull her hair out from beneath the light material. Anya's beaming smile at his compliment had him turning to ask how much it was. Anya protested when he handed over the money, claiming she didn't need it.

"You didn't have to buy it, I was just looking," Anna sighed, feeling guilty that they'd spent some of their much needed money on something as frivolous as a scarf.

"You like it. I want to get you things you like." James would give Anya everything she ever wanted if he had the money. One scarf wasn't much, and she liked it. It showed in the way she'd subconsciously stroke the fabric as they meandered around the square.

"Aren't you afraid it's a bit too showy? It might draw attention." Though it'd been several weeks since she'd told James about Rumlow, he'd been adamant they remain as unnoticeable as possible when they went out. It was hard to go overlooked with rich red and gold material draped around your neck.

"One scarf won't change much," James insisted, pulling up the baseball cap Anya wore just enough for him to sneak in a quick kiss. "Do we need bread?" James asked once he pulled back, continuing on towards the nearest food stand with Anya in tow.

They returned to their apartment when Anna's lunch break ended. With a light squeeze of her hand James continued up the stairs and she returned to the clinic. Christian's compliment of her scarf had her smiling as she tugged on the soft material. James probably hadn't realized how much giving her something meant to her. The sweetness of the gesture melted her heart, just like the necklace he'd made her.

"How long have you two been together?" Christian asked during a lull in patients when he noticed Anna's fingers tracing the edges of the metal star necklace she always wore. It wasn't hard to put together who gave her it.

"I'm not sure," Anna mused once she realized what Christian was talking about. She'd lost her sense of time when she was kidnapped and she never did seem to get it back. Time moved different when she was with James. Not in a slow motion kind of way, but in a way that had her losing track of it. "It seems longer than it probably is."

"You seem very comfortable with each other as well as very protective of the other," Christian commented, recalling the way they were together. The first time he met them James had been defensive around Christian, physically restraining him when Christian had reached out for Anna. She talked him down easily, and talked him into letting her work at the clinic. When he got hurt, she could only focus on healing him. Their relationship was very intriguing.

"We've been through a lot together," Anna shrugged, hoping Christian wouldn't press her on it. Although he saved her life by lying for her, she still didn't feel comfortable telling him anything more than he already knew.

"I'm glad it brought you here." A five year old with a cold interrupted their conversation, leaving Anna to think over it. Secretly, she was happy all of it brought them there too. They were together, away from Hydra and Rumlow, and she was practicing medicine again. It was more than she had hoped for when they went dark.

…

"Is it ready?" James asked the shop keeper. He'd purposefully avoided passing by the shop with Anya earlier, in case she wanted to go in and look. He hadn't wanted the store owner accidently mentioning anything that hinted he'd been there before. It was supposed to be a surprise, which was why he took the fire escape down after Anya returned to the clinic. He hadn't wanted to chance her seeing him leave and asking where he was going.

"Yes, and I must say I outdid myself. She's going to love it," the shop keeper responded moving towards the back to retrieve the box. She handed it over once James gave her the last few bills to cover the cost. There was something satisfying about slipping the box into his jacket pocket. He'd had to wait a week for it to be done, now he could finally give it to Anya. The thought itself had him both excited and anxious.

"Where's the best place to find candles?" James asked. He wanted tonight to be special for Anya and somewhere in the depths of his memory he remembered something about candles. He only thought of flowers after he'd climbed back up the fire escape. It was too late to get them at that point. Anya would almost be home from the clinic. He'd just have to hope what he'd gotten was good enough.

…

When they closed the clinic Anna was beyond ready to unwind. The climb up to the apartment seemed longer, but eventually she was climbing the last few steps. Swinging the door open, Anna was taken aback by the dim room lit by a dozen or so candles spread across the kitchen counter and the floor by the adjacent wall. Had they lost power? No, they couldn't have. The clinic lights had been working fine when she left.

"James, what's going on? Is everything okay?" Anna asked when she saw him standing uncertainly in the middle of the room, rubbing his hands against his jeans. He didn't respond as he approached her, guiding her to their couch. He didn't say a single word until she was seated.

"Anya," James started, feeling his heart thumping against his chest. He had no idea if he was doing it right and he wanted everything to be perfect. Remembering he was supposed to be kneeling or something, he dropped to his knees in front of her, taking both her hands in his.

"Anya," James started again, trying to remember what he had planned on saying. It was harder to remember when she was there. Eventually he just started talking, hoping the right words would come to him. "You are my heart and my home. You make me stronger and help me to see the man I was, and can be. The man I want to be. You're everything I never knew I needed and I never want to be without you. Will you please do me the honor of marrying me?"

* * *

 _A/N: Hey everyone! I hope all of my American readers had a Happy Thanksgiving! The next chapter is finally here! And hopefully I can spend some more time the rest of this weekend working on the next one. I hope you enjoyed it._

 _I want to thank all of you for being so amazing. Not only with following, favoriting, reviewing, and reading, but with your loyalty to me. I've had my story stolen twice, once on wattpad and once on fanfiction, and you guys have been wonderful at pointing it out to me so I could handle the situation. The fact that you guys care enough to let me know when you find someone has taken my story really touches me. You guys are amazing and I don't know what I did to deserve you and your loyalty but I really do appreciate it!_

 _Anyways, enough mushiness. Onto Guest Review Responses!_

Jo: Yes, there is a lot going on. This chapter slows it down a bit for a moment. A little slower paced and romantical lol. Hope you enjoyed it.

Hannah: Thanks! Always good to hear you enjoyed it.

Adjstmntdisrdr: Hi! I don't mind you calling me by my nickname. I'm glad you feel like ya know me, I like to be in tune with all my readers! Congrats on making it to med school! That's hard stuff there but the career path can be so rewarding. And Thank you for the congratulations. I try really hard to get all the medical stuff right. I went to Pharmacy school and got my PharmD so I have that to thank for a lot of my medical knowledge. The rest I fill in with Google lol. I love hearing people binge read my stories it makes me feel so happy I managed to write something someone enjoyed so much they would dedicate large chunks of time to. The fact that you reread some chapters you really liked makes me extra happy. I am with you in the whole wanting real guys like James. Keep your eyes open, there are good guys mixed in with the asshats. Hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as all the others!

JustSomebody: You are so welcome. I will never abandon this story so have no fear. Sometimes life will get hectic and it will take a little longer to post but I will always come back. I love writing Janya too much to give up on them. Thank you so much for the compliment. I'm glad you think I'm a compelling story teller. I enjoy writing so much. AND YAY FOR JANYA BEING YOUR ULTIMATE SHIP! That makes me super duper happy.

Rach

xoxo


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

" _So close was waiting, waiting here with you. And now forever I know all that I wanted to hold you so close…How could I face the faceless days, if I should lose you now? We're so close to reaching that famous happy ending. Almost believing this was not pretend. Let's go on dreaming for we know we are so close and still so far." So close by Jon McLaughlin_

* * *

Anna's nerves were tangled up inside her as she took a seat on the couch. When James knelt before her, wrapping his hands around hers, she felt her heart stutter. His words hit her right in the heart, causing it to ache from happiness. James wanted to marry her.

The candlelight flickered across his face as he waited for her answer, and she noticed he was actually nervous. He didn't know what her answer would be. He was adorably vulnerable in that moment. It had Anna tugging lightly on James hands to bring him closer before crossing the small space between them. His lips parted in the middle of their kiss, his tongue softly darting across her bottom lip, as if just to get a taste. It had blood rushing to Anna's head. Letting herself sink into James' kiss for a few more moments, Anna eventually pulled away.

"Yes, of course I'll marry you," she murmured with a smile, a thrill racing down her spine at the thought. James' returning smile was heart stopping and so was the soul wrenching kiss he gave her after her answer. His teeth grazed her lip, sending a wave of longing through her. She was just about to tangle her hands in his hair when he muttered a Russian curse word against her mouth and pulled back.

"I was supposed to show you this before you answered, wasn't I?" James muttered as he pulled the box from his pocket. He knew he'd screw something up. It was supposed to go candles, kneeling, question and ring. He'd forgotten all about it in his state of anxiety to get everything perfect.

Anna couldn't help but chuckle at James' reaction to forgetting the ring. She hadn't been expecting one, but still, he acted as if there were rules to proposing. In all honesty, she probably wouldn't have even had the mind to look at the ring with James bearing his soul before her. The way he did it was perfect for her.

"We kind of threw tradition and customs out the window when we started our relationship," Anna responded, cupping his cheek with her hand. "I love everything about the way you proposed."

"Does that mean you don't want to see the ring?" James teased, his heart seeming lighter at Anya's assurance he hadn't screwed anything up.

"No, I want to see it," Anna countered, wanting to know what he'd picked out for her. She held her breath in anticipation when James reached for the lid, flipping the box open to reveal a delicate, beautiful ring. Instead of the usual single diamond it was a rose gold band that had pairs of smaller diamonds inset diagonal from one another, with a single ribbon of gold separating each pair from the others.

"It's beautiful," Anna whispered, her fingers brushing over the top of the ring. It was simple, sweet, and just perfect.

"There's an inscription on the inside," James added, plucking the ring from the box and holding it so Anya could read what he'd had engraved on the inner side of the ring.

"With you I'm home," Anna read aloud, her heart melting at the inscription. It even had a tiny heart etched beside it. With her emotions running high, Anna felt a tear escape her eyes, falling until it landed on James' hand.

"Good tears?" James asked as he wiped away the next tear with the pad of his thumb. Anya smiled at him, nodding her head in the affirmative as she reached up to wipe away the tears collecting in her other eye. Reaching out, James caught her left hand in his, rubbing it gently as he slid the ring onto her ring finger. He was relieved to find it fit her. He'd only estimated when he'd put in the order.

Anya studied it for a few moments before pulling him towards her yet again. There were no interruptions on either of their parts that time and somehow James ended up hoovering over Anya on the couch, thoroughly reacquainting himself with her lips.

…

"I don't want to go to work. I want to lay in this bed with you forever," Anna murmured when the light filtering through the newspapers they had taped to the windows woke them both up.

"I'm all for that," James responded with a smile, tracing Anya's lips with his finger.

"But if I don't go to work, we won't have a bed to lay in," Anna sighed. Last night had been perfect, and she really wanted to relish in their alone time. But the reasonable part of her brain was forcing her out of bed and into the bathroom to start the day.

"I'll see you on your lunch break," James whispered in Anya's ear before she left. It had become a routine of theirs the past month. Whatever odd jobs James got, he'd make sure he took lunch with Anya. They'd mostly spend it in their apartment, but every once in a while when they'd needed more food they'd spend it in the square. Today James had plans to take Anya on a picnic lunch to celebrate.

"I'm looking forward to it." Anna pressed a light kiss to James' cheek before racing down the stairs to the clinic. She'd dawdled enough that morning and now she was almost late.

For the first time it was hard for Anna to concentrate in the clinic. She'd find herself glancing at her left ring finger every few minutes. It was enough to have Christian notice the delicate ring that she now wore. His congratulations was sincere as he asked when they planned on tying the knot.

"We haven't had time to talk about it. But I think I'd want my brother and our friends to be there." In the excitement of last night, Anna hadn't even thought about when or how they'd actually get married. Anna wasn't into big and extravagant, but family being there was important.

Tony would most likely not approve, but that didn't mean she'd want to go behind his back and get married without telling him. Not to mention Steve, Natasha, Bruce, Pepper, Clint, and Thor. They were as much her family as Tony. She'd want them all there. However, there was no telling how long she'd have to wait for that to be a possibility. Even without thinking about the family aspect, there was the whole James having been declared dead thing. They couldn't even be legally married until they reversed that. Not that legality meant much to Anna anymore. Just having a ceremony that spiritually bonded them would be enough for her.

"I was under the impression you didn't have any living relatives," Christian commented, surprised to hear Anna had a brother. She'd never mentioned him. Then again, she was on the run from the burnt man so perhaps she didn't want to let personal information slip.

"Talking about my brother would only make me miss him more. I didn't have time to say goodbye to him before we left." For all Anna knew, Tony thought she was dead. Perhaps he'd even held a funeral for her like she'd done when he'd gone missing for months. She wondered if Tony felt the same as she did, and avoided talking about her to prevent causing himself more pain.

"I'm sure he understands," Christian offered, noticing the creases in Anna's forehead that showcased how distressed she was. If he had a sister being chased by a mad man who put her on the run, he'd understand why she didn't say goodbye first.

"You don't know my brother. He can be a bit of a drama king." Tony had a tendency to take things personal. "But I love him. So I might have to wait a while, until he can be there, before James and I get married."

"You could always take your vows spiritually and wait to legally proclaim yourselves husband and wife until your brother can make it." Christian's suggestion posed a legitimate solution to Anna's emotional dilemma. She hadn't wanted to leave anyone out of their union, but she also didn't want to have to wait an infinite amount of time before tying herself to James.

"Have you ever thought of adding therapist to your duties at the clinic? You're rather good at it," Anna mused.

…

"Daddy listen to what I learned!" A tiny Anna proclaimed, using her pointer fingers to play chopsticks on the piano beside their mother. It was the only warning Tony got before his father flipped the blanket off him.

"Who's the homeless person on the couch?" Howard commented, completely ignoring the precocious five year old banging the keys of the piano.

"This is why I love coming home right before you leave," Tony retorted, only half meaning it. The fact his father always seemed to leave whenever he came home on breaks hurt a little. Not that Tony ever admitted that.

"You're playing beautifully Anna Banana," Tony added, mussing up his little sister's hair as he moved past her. He'd made it his mission to make sure Anna didn't feel pushed aside like he had while growing up. The bright smile she flashed at him at his compliment had a small bit of his anger dissipating. At least until his father spoke again to remind his mother they needed to get ready to go.

"Where are you going?" Tony asked, knowing he wouldn't like the answer regardless.

"A dinner party just outside the city." His mother was the one to respond, but Tony posed his follow up question to his father anyways.

"Business or pleasure? Wait, what was I thinking? It's business. You never do anything for pleasure," Tony retorted making his father shook his head at him before leaving to get their car ready.

"He does miss you when you're not here," his mother insisted, leaving Anna at the piano to stand before Tony. "Say something. If you don't you'll regret it."

"I love you dad. And I know you did the best you could," Tony listened to his mom when his father came back in the room. Then with a kiss on the cheek form his mother, it all started fading away. It took present day Tony a couple beats before he continued with his presentation. He found himself staring at the hologram of little Anna Banana until she disappeared. The prompter helped him remember what he was going to say even while half his mind was on his sister. When Pepper's name showed up on the prompter he completely froze.

Between the emotional rollercoaster of replaying the last time he'd spoken to his parents in front of an auditorium of MIT students, seeing Anna for the first time in months even if it was just a hologram of her much younger self, and inadvertently being reminded that Pepper's health wasn't secure in front of said MIT students, his brain had shut down. Thankfully he didn't need to think, only end his speech and make a hasty exit, which was exactly what he did.

…

The market square was full of people when James perused the carts. He wasn't sure what Anya would like best. Fresh fruit was always a favorite of hers, so he made his way towards the farmer's stand that had an array of fruits and vegetables spread out. Moving to the end of the stand he picked out a few plums. He'd originally started buying them because of they were supposed to help with memory. It was Anya's love for the fruit that had him continually returning to the stand.

Realizing he'd need a basket to carry the food in after he purchased the plums, James moved away from the stand. There was a little shop across the square that sold all kinds of odds and ends, including baskets. He'd return to the food stands after he picked up a basket for their picnic. As he waited to cross the street, and attempted to avoid eye contact with passerby's, James felt the tingling sensation of being watched. Glancing up from under his cap, he surveyed the area, trying to identify any threat that might be lurking. If Rumlow had returned, he didn't want to be attacked while off guard.

When his eyes connected with the man working the news stand, James felt his stomach sink. He knew the man's expression. It was the terror of recognition. He'd seen it on enough faces when he'd come to kill them. If the news man was afraid of him, when they'd never had any previous altercations or even interactions, it wasn't good. The way he fled his stand as James approached him only solidified the knot forming in the pit of James' stomach.

There was a paper spread out across the stand. Flipping it around so he could read it, James found a picture of himself staring up at him from the front page. He didn't understand how it got there, as he hadn't been anywhere near Vienna, but how it got there didn't really matter at the moment. What mattered was his face was plastered across international newspapers claiming he set off a bomb at some accord meeting. It was only a matter of time until he was tracked down. He had to get back to Anya. Their months of peace and living a semi-normal life were gone.

"We need to go," James insisted after bursting through the clinic door and finding Anna giving medicine instructions to a patient she just worked on. Thankfully the other doctor was in the back room. The less people that knew they were leaving, the better. "Now," James added when Anya made no move to leave.

"What are you talking about?" Just that morning they were discussing staying in bed all day and meeting for lunch. What could possibly change in the few hours she'd been in the clinic? "Is it Rumlow?" Had he come back, realized James and her hadn't left and returned?

"It's German special forces and all the forces of their allies," James corrected, handing the paper to Anya. He didn't have time for a full explanation. He needed to get Anya out of there and the quickest way was to show her the paper.

"But this isn't you. You didn't do this," Anna finally spoke after she'd managed to translate the heading. There was no denying the man in the picture looked identical to James, but there was no physical way possible he could have been in Vienna. He had no motive, not to mention he had no time to get to Austria and back in time to propose to her last night.

"It doesn't matter. Someone thinks I did and they will come. You need to leave now. Remember the plan. I'll meet you there as soon as I can," James retorted, starting to push Anya towards the door.

"Aren't you coming with me?!" Anna asked, digging her heals in and trying to stop James from pushing her out the door. It was only half successful. "I'm not leaving without you."

"I'm just going to grab our bag and then I'll be right behind you. Please, Anya. I need you to get out of here," James pleaded. Anna was about to protest again. They didn't need the stupid bag. They could get another one. The two of them separating was never a good idea. Her protests died on her lips when she realized the journal full of their memories, as well as their escape routes, was in the bag. If they left it behind, they'd be caught anyways.

"If you don't meet up with me in ten minutes, I'm coming back for you," Anna declared, pressing a firm kiss to James' lips before moving towards the front door. She didn't want to give James the chance to fight her on that. He was lucky she wasn't coming with him to get the bag. The only reason she hadn't insisted on it was because she knew she'd only slow him down. Besides, the news had only hit the stand that morning, how fast could German forces track James down?

James didn't have time to fight Anya on not coming back for him. It'd be a waste of time anyways. She'd come back no matter what he said. Instead he starting sprinting up the stairs. The only way to make sure Anya stayed safe was to get out of there before anyone came for him. James didn't know it was already too late until he found Steve standing in their apartment, fully suited up. He was ready for a fight.

"I'm a little surprised they sent you," James announced his presence, causing Steve to turn around.

"I'm not here to bring you in. I'm here to warn you. Doesn't seem like you need it though," Steve commented with a small smile. It was good to see Bucky again, even under the circumstances. Although it was obvious Bucky didn't feel the same way. There was a mistrustful look to his eyes and he seemed ready to bolt or fight at any moment.

"I wasn't in Vienna. I don't do that anymore," James responded, knowing it wouldn't do any good if Steve had made up his mind already. Steve might have been his best friend at one time, but he also always did what was right. If he believed the papers, then Steve was here for James.

"Well the people who think you did are coming here now. And they're not planning on taking you alive." Steve needed to get Bucky out of there now, but he didn't know how to make Bucky trust him.

"That's smart. Good strategy," James bit out. Steve was wasting his time. For all James knew, he was stalling him so he'd be caught. A theory that seemed legitimate when he heard footsteps above them and on the stairwell. He needed to get out fast.

"This doesn't have to end in a fight Buck," Steve insisted when he noticed Bucky removing the glove from his metal hand.

"It always ends in a fight," James sighed, preparing himself to fight off both Steve and the men about to beat down the door.

"Where's Anna?" Steve blurted out, trying to change tactics. Perhaps if he reminded Bucky about the one person he seemed to care about living for, it would get him to move out without killing anyone.

"I don't know," James dead panned. There was no way he was telling Steve anything about Anya. If Steve was there to take him in, he was only taking him in. He wouldn't lead him to Anya as well.

"Yes you do," Steve countered, but before he could say anything else about Anna, Sam was buzzing in his ear, yelling breach just as a grenade crashed through the window.

It was at that moment that James decided he couldn't meet up with Anya. They'd follow him straight to her and he couldn't risk that. If he couldn't lose them, he'd lead them away so when Anya did come back for him, the place would be cleared and she would be safe. Then as soon as he got the opportunity, he'd come back for her.

* * *

 _A/N It's finally here! We've made it to the Civil War plot and I am sooo excited. Words cannot describe how excited I am to start in on this. I have some ideas already floating around in my brain for different parts of Civil War so this should be exciting!_ _ **IMPORTANT QUESTIONS/STATEMENTS AHEAD:**_ _ **First, I've written a one shot in the past between Brent and Anna but haven't posted it yet. It deals with a delicate situation that I don't have personal knowledge or experience on so I'm afraid I will capture it wrong and not do it justice for those who may have unfortunately gone through something similar. Therefore I am hesitant to post it. Let me know what you guys want and if the majority want to read it, I will post it under my profile as the story "Warning Signs."**_

 _ **Also I will be posting a new chapter to the one shot collections 'In a way he was her first' so be on the lookout for that!**_

 _ **I wanted to let you all know I will be posting more things to my Relentless pinterest as I write through Civil war so keep an eye out for that!**_

 _I can't wait to hear all of your reactions, predictions, and suggestions. Let me know which parts of civil war you're most looking forward to seeing Anna in! AHH I'm so excited to rock this. Anyways, hope you all enjoyed the update!_

 _Onto Guest Review responses:_

 _Sarah: Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and I hope you enjoyed this chapter just as much!_

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	25. Chapter 25

Relentless Chapter 25

 _"I promise that one day I'll be around, I'll keep you safe I'll keep you sound. Right now it's pretty crazy and I don't know how to stop or slow it down...Take a piece of my heart and make it all your own. So when we are apart, you'll never be alone." Shawn Mendes Never be alone._

Anna never made it to the factory. She switched directions when she heard the dozen or so sirens. She couldn't let anything happen to James. She never should have left him in the first place. Bad things always happened when they were separated.

Skidding to a halt on the street of their apartment, Anna stared in utter horror as she saw James fling himself out of their building and onto the roof of the one next door. When the helicopter showed up, she almost had a stroke. She should have insisted James leave with her. So what if someone found the journal, they could make up a new escape route on the go. It wasn't like they hadn't done it before.

For a split second, James thought it might be safe for him to meet up with Anya. In that second he saw them making their escape to a further, more remote area, able to once again start rebuilding their lives. Then that second came crashing to an end as a guy in a black cat suit jumped into the mix. He was strong, fast, and had James scrambling to get away and put as much distance between him and the apartment building as possible. Between the cat man and the helicopter it was becoming harder to shake the people determined to chase him down.

Eventually, with the help of Steve and his flying sidekick, James was able to get a little bit of a head start. Once again he felt hope grow in his heart at the thought of losing his pursuers and meeting up with Anya. Not that hope or the help mattered in the end. Both the cat, and the cops caught up to him. Steve hesitantly held his hand out, as though James would really try to fight his way out from being surrounded by cops as well as the trash can version of Tony's suit. He wasn't an idiot. Resisting would only get him killed, and he had no plans of dying while Anya was still out there.

They weren't gentle, slamming him face down into the grown. It would have been easy to break the cop's hold. Even if the cop used his whole body weight, with a few maneuvers James could be free. But only for as long as it took for one of the two dozen cops surrounding them to shoot the guns they had drawn. One shot would make them all start shooting. The smartest move was to make none. Going quietly would get the streets cleared of cops and allow Anya time to slip away.

"Let me through!" James eyes darted to the perimeter at the sound of the familiarly stubborn female voice. It was hard to see more than the feet of the officers surrounding them when he was spread out face down on the ground, but he managed to catch a glimpse of Anya, red faced with anger. He had no idea how she'd gotten there, but he wished she'd stuck to the plan. Especially when one of the cops man handled her into the backseat of a car. His heart slammed in his chest and he could feel his pulse skyrocketing as the cop slammed the door shut in her face. James was sorely tempted to buck the man restraining him. If he used the man as a shield he could make it to Anya with only a few grazes, maybe one through and through.

"Fighting on her behalf will only make things worse," Steve murmured, noticing the warning signs from Buck. He had the same tense set to his body and look on his face that he'd had whenever he was about to go after someone on Steve's behalf back in the day.

"Why are they even taking her?" James spat out. Anya wasn't in the papers, only him. And she hadn't been at the apartment when the cops showed up. They had no reason to take her.

"Because she knows you. And she was trying to talk to you, get to you. The law takes accomplices just as seriously as criminals." The German forces most likely thought Anna knew something. They'd take her in to question her, and book her if necessary.

"Neither of us did anything," James insisted, his heart squeezing in fear. Why couldn't Anya have went to the factory and stayed there? She'd be free, and safe.

Anna couldn't believe they'd arrested her. Actually arrested her. They didn't even care to hear what she had to say, or that she was a witness to prove James hadn't done any of the things they were accusing him of. Just like they hadn't listened when she demanded they let her through to see him when they had him spread eagle on the ground as if he was going to kill everyone. As if that would stop him from killing everyone if he wanted to. Which he didn't. Not unless they gave him a reason to.

"I'm going to ask you one more time, what's your name?" The cop demanded. They'd already made it to their destination after a painstakingly long drive. Now the cop had a tight grip on her upper arm as he forced her out of the elevator. She hadn't seen James, Steve or Sam when she'd been pulled out of the cop car. It had her worrying they'd taken James to a different facility. It looked as if she was at some kind of law enforcement headquarters judging by the offices. Although, Anna barely had time to register more than that before someone called out to her, inadvertently answering the cop's question.

"Anna!" Tony called out, barely believing he was actually seeing his baby sister. It was as he was approaching that he noticed the tight grip of the cop beside her. "Paws off," he ordered before he grabbed a hold of Anna and squeezed her tight. It really was Anna banana.

"You know this woman?" The cop asked dumbly to which Tony responded with a sharp 'she's my sister.'

Anna was completely confused about where she was, where James and Steve were, and why Tony was there. But as soon as Tony enveloped her in a hug all she could do was hold him and cry. It had been months since she'd last seen him, and there'd always been that tiny nagging feeling in the back of her mind making her wonder if she'd ever see him again.

"Don't you ever disappear on me again," Tony ordered gruffly, his voice muffled by Anna's hair. "I didn't know if I'd ever see you again."

The sound of a very angry voice buzzing from the phone Tony had left in his hand caused the siblings to break apart. With an apology to his sister, Tony raised the phone back to his ear and returned to the call with the enraged senator. His eyes kept flashing back to Anna during the call, half afraid she'd vanish as mysteriously as she'd returned to him.

While Tony paced and attempted to pacify whoever was on the phone, Anna wiped the tears from her eyes. Her thoughts turned back to James and where they could have taken him and Steve. Eying the door, Anna considered going to look for him until the sound of heavy footsteps echoed in the hallway. A few minutes later half a dozen men entered the room, most wearing law enforcement gear. Steve and Sam followed behind, but not James. Realizing James wasn't with the group had Anna's heart plummeting. They'd been taken in together, why weren't they being held together? What had they done to him?

"Where's James?" Anna asked as she sidled up to Steve and Sam.

"Nice to see you too. We've been better, thanks for asking," Sam retorted sarcastically. His response had Anna turning her full attention to Steve for an answer. Steve was the only other person in the world that cared about James. He'd give her a serious answer.

"I don't know. They have him in some sort of special containment box and took him in the opposite direction as us when we arrived," Steve responded, causing Anna's shoulders to slump. It wasn't great news, but at least they hadn't killed him. Yet. Who knew what their plans for him were.

Anna needed to talk to Tony. Tony always had some kind of influence over situations. Maybe he could help her get the government to listen to her. James hadn't done what they were accusing him of. Tony might be able to get whichever government was holding him prisoner to let him go. However, before she could follow after Tony, the guards that led Steve and Sam in had reappeared and were herding all three of them to separate offices. However Anna refused to leave the conference room they led her and Steve to once she saw James on the monitors adjacent to their room.

"This is unnecessary. He's not that man anymore," Anna murmured to herself as she continued to stare at the monitor. He didn't deserve to be locked up like some uncontrolled animal. Turning to face the government official who had yet to leave, Anna attempted to plead with him. "Just let me talk to him. I can fix this and clear things up."

"You're lucky you're not in custody like he is for conspiring, Stark. If it was up to me, you'd be interrogated from inside a cell. Don't push it," the suit responded before ducking out of the room.

"It'll be okay," Steve insisted, placing a comforting hand on Anna's shoulder. At the incredulous look Anna shot him, he pressed on. "At least he hasn't acted out, which would give them even more reason to condemn him."

…

James was trying his best to remain calm, though it got increasingly difficult the longer he was confined in the box prison. Unable to move his legs, arms, and shoulders was becoming stifling. And he thought the sling Anya had made him wear twice was bad. This contraption was so much worse. James was fairly confident, if he applied the right amount of pressure, he could get himself out of the metal confinements. Instead of attempting it, he remained still.

Breaking out of the box or putting up any kind of fight would just give them incentive to blame him for whatever crimes they thought he committed. Although James knew they had already convicted him in their minds. The same way he knew Anya would be futilely defending him. He would not give the agents reason to mistrust her by acting out. If sitting still in this box was his only way to save Anya, he would do everything in his power to stay calm.

"Hello Mr. Barnes," the man in a suit who sounded suspiciously like a shrink addressed him as he took a seat at a table in front of James' box. "I've been sent by the United Nations to evaluate you."

So he was a shrink. James didn't like shrinks. They thought they knew everything and understood you when they don't know the hell of it. The shrink wasn't James, he hadn't been through anything remotely close to what James had. There was no way the shrink could understand him. The only reason the authorities brought the man in was because they thought he was insane, or they wanted to rule out insanity so they could try him without immunity. Which meant James was going to refrain from talking as much as possible so he wouldn't condemn him or Anya.

"You're first name is James?" The shrink asked, trying to ease James into a conversation. "I'm not here to judge you. I just want to ask you a few questions."

"Do you know where you are, James?" The shrink continued on when James didn't respond to anything he'd said. "I can't help you if you don't talk to me, James." It was as if the shrink knew using the name James would provoke him into talking, with the amount of times he'd used it.

"My name is Bucky," James responded in a monotone. Only Anya called him James. He didn't like hearing the name from the shrink.

"I apologize. That was the name the girl used for you. I assumed it was what you went by." James head snapped down, his eyes moving from the ceiling to meet the shrink's eyes at the mention of Anya.

"What did they do with her?" James asked, breaking his promise to speak as little as possible. It was the first time anyone had said a word to him, and the first time he'd heard word of Anya. At least he knew she was in the same building, if this guy had heard her use his name. Not that the idea of her being held by foreign authorities was very comforting.

"You care about her. That's good to know," the shrink responded, making a note on his paper. "She is being held upstairs for the time being. Perfectly safe."

James let his head fall back again at the shrink's answer. Anya wouldn't be safe until she was set free and allowed to leave. Even then she wouldn't really be safe with Hydra and Rumlow out there. It was obvious the shrink hadn't actually talked to Anya. He knew scarcely more than James did about where she was and what was happening to her. The shrink was simply using her to get him to talk, and he wouldn't let that happen again. If they wanted him to say more than a few words, they'd have to let him see Anya was alright, then they'd have to let her go.

…

"So, why's Tony here?" Anna asked, her eyes flickering away from the monitor to take in Steve beside her. It didn't take a genius to know Tony was, in some capacity, working with the people who had brought her and James in. The way Steve's jaw tightened confirmed Anna's suspicions.

"He's having a bit of a guilty conscious. He's working with Senator Ross to limit the Avenger's actions," Steve answered, keeping his eyes on the monitors in hopes that Anna wouldn't realize how tense things had gotten between the Avengers while she was gone.

"He's agreeing with a politician?" Tony was the one who always referred to politicians as lying, cheating, scumbags that sold you a promise they never intended to keep.

"I still think they're scumbags, but this scumbag has a point," Tony responded, taking a seat at the conference table and motioning for Anna and Steve to do the same.

"Where's Pepper? She should be here to talk some sense into you," Anna retorted, surprised to hear Tony say something positive about a Senator.

"She's..um…kind of. Well not kind of, definitely," Tony fumbled for words, something that was completely out of character for him.

"Pregnant?" Steve offered up hopefully, causing Anna's eyes to widen at the thought of Tony being a father.

"No, definitely not. She's in a medically induced coma to help her recover faster," Tony finally admitted, his stomach lurching like it always did when he thought of Pepper.

"What happened? Is she going to be okay?" Anna pressed, her heart tightening in fear at the thought of losing Pepper. Not only did she bring out the best in Tony, but she'd become part of the family and a sister to Anna ever since she started working for Anna's brother.

"She was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. She's hanging in there. If it wasn't for Killian's experiment and you for stabilizing her after, she might not even have made it out alive," Tony admitted. He hated that what Killian had done to Pepper had helped her survive, but it was the truth. Even with the molecular changes to Pepper's body, she was still on the edge of recovery.

"If I'd been home I could have helped. No one knows what Aldrich did to her better than me. I'm so sorry Tony," Anna whispered, folding her head into her hands.

"There wasn't anything you could have done Anna Banana. To tell the truth, she never would have been hurt if it wasn't for our little spat. She didn't really take the whole me building Ultron very well. In a way the accords are my way of making it up to her," Tony admitted. If he hadn't built Ultron and almost destroyed the world, Pepper and him never would have fought and she wouldn't have put all her energy into the business. The meeting wouldn't have taken place and she wouldn't have been in the explosion.

"I don't mean to make things difficult," Steve lamented when Tony sent him a pointed look.

"I know, because you're a very polite person," Tony retorted, rising from his seat to stand beside Steve and Anna.

"If I see a situation pointed south, I can't ignore it. Sometimes I wish I could." Steve's comment had Anna suppressing a smile. She couldn't see a world where Steve wished he could ignore anyone in trouble. He was constantly in hero mode.

"No you don't," Tony insisted, calling Steve on his bull.

"No, I don't" Steve admitted with a smile. "Sometimes…"

"Sometimes I want to punch you in your perfect teeth," Tony interrupted, not wanting to hear anything else Saint Steve was going to say.

"Tony!" Anna scolded, speaking up for the first time since Steve and Tony's verbal tennis match. She knew the two rarely saw eye to eye, but she'd thought they were past their cheap insults phase.

"We still need you Cap," Tony pressed on, ignoring his sister. "So far nothing's happened that can't be undone. If you just sign. We can make the last 24 hours legit. Barnes gets transferred to an American psych center instead of a Wakandin prison."

"James isn't going anywhere," Anna interrupted. She might not fully understand what Tony was talking about or what he wanted Steve to sign, but the part about James she did understand.

"Anna, he blew up the building where the accords were being signed. He killed the king of Wakanda. He doesn't have much of a choice." Tony knew how much Tin Man meant to Anna, even though he didn't particularly understand why. But after everything that had happened, it was the best Tin Man was going to get.

"He didn't blow up that building," Anna refuted, slamming her hand down on the table in frustration. Why wouldn't anyone listen to her? Now her own brother didn't believe her

"We have physical proof Anna Banana," Tony responded in a soft tone. "Security camera footage showed him on site at the time of the explosion.

"Yeah because we live in the 80's where photoshop isn't available to the masses and hacking a security feed is impossible," Anna retorted rolling her eyes. "There's no way he could be in Vienna at the time of the accords because he was in Romania, proposing to me," she added, holding up her left hand. It wasn't exactly the way she'd planned on breaking the news to her brother, but she had to do something to make him believe her.

"You're engaged," Steve cried out happily, smiling brightly at Anna. At least one of them had a good reaction to the news. Tony shouted the same thing, but in a completely different tone than Steve had.

"The point is, James didn't set off that bomb. He's not that person anymore, he's not the Winter Soldier. You know that Tony," Anna pushed on, hoping to get Tony's focus back on freeing James and not their engagement.

"Even if that's true, there's not much I can do Anna. It's up to the CIA really and I don't think they're going to take into account a witness statement from a possible accomplice and Tin Man's fiancée," Tony had to force the last word out, as the thought of Anna being engaged to anyone, let alone Tin Man, caused a lump in his throat.

"What if a contingency of me signing meant Bucky went free with community service or something," Steve asked, breaking up the intense stare down between the Stark siblings.

"They'll never go for it. The most I can try for is a limited sentence at a psych center with ample visitation time until they feel Tin Man has rehabilitated," Tony sighed, rubbing his temples. Fighting with Anna always stressed him out more than anything.

"There would have to be safeguards for the Avengers as well," Steve murmured after a pause, turning the fountain pen in his hand as he stood from his chair.

"Sure," Tony readily agreed, excited at the idea that Steve might actually sign and they could put this whole thing behind them. "Once we put out a PR file the documents can be amended. I'll file a motion to have Wanda reinstated."

"Wanda, what about Wanda?" Steve interrupted, which led to another shouting match between the two that ended with both leaving the room.

At that point Anna was lost again. She didn't know who Wanda was. She didn't know what the accords actually meant for the Avengers. All she knew was that the best anyone could offer James was a padded cell in a psych ward. Which pissed her off. He was already rehabilitated. Now some mumbo jumbo psych doctor had to decide he was fit for society again after they'd been living in it peacefully for months? A doctor who didn't even know him, and who James probably wouldn't even talk to. Because, although he wasn't the Winter Soldier anymore, James still had trust issues and he didn't do well with confinement. It stirred up his PTSD.

Anna wouldn't accept confinement as the best case scenario for James. She would find a way to bargain for his freedom or she would find a way to break him out.

* * *

 _A/N Hello all my lovely readers! I'm so sorry it took so long to update. With getting into Civil War plot lines I need to watch the movie while writing and pause and rewind about a million times to get scenes right and accurate as possible to the story line while adding Anna to it. Weekends are my only time to do this and it so happened that this last weekend was Christmas so I didn't watch or write at all, and the previous weekend was my wedding weekend. Anyways, I'm back in writing mode and even though this weekend is New Years I have no big plans so I'm hoping I can write some next weekend._

 _ALERT: I posted the one shot Warning Signs under that title if you're interested in Anna/Brent past. I also posted another chapter to In a way he was her first._

 _I hope you all enjoyed this update, it was written over several days spread about a week or two apart. I tried editing best I could, but let's face it. You know I probably missed some grammatical things. I can't wait to hear what you all think of it regardless!_

 _ **I REALIZE WHEN I STARTED CIVIL WAR I JUMPED TO THE POINT PAST WHERE THE AVENGERS FIGHT RUMLOW. NO RUMLOW IS NOT DEAD YET IN THIS STORY. IF YOU ALL WANT A ONE SHOT OF THAT PART OF CIVIL WAR IN THIS TIMELINE LET ME KNOW. IT'LL PROBABLY PLAY OUTVERY SIMILARLY EXCEPT OBVIOUSLY RUMLOW WON'T DIE IN IT.**_

 _Rach_

 _Xoxo_

 _Onto guest review responses_

 _Janya Aw: Love you're guest name ;) I'm so glad you're loving the story! It's nice to know you appreciate Anna being Anya in James POV because that was one of my favorite little tid bits to put in. Thanks for the suggestion with Warning Signs. I posted it earlier today if you wanna check it out, as well as another chaper to In a way he was her first. Thanks for reviewing and let me know what you think if you check those one shots out._


	26. Chapter 26

" _Baby you're my only reason. If I didn't have you there would be nothing left. A shell of a man who could never be his best. And if I didn't have you I'd never see the sun. You've taught me how to be someone…you stood by me, when no one else was ever behind me. With your love nobody can drag me down." Drag me down cover by Shawn Mendes_

 **Chapter 26**

"I'm telling you, that's not him," Anna insisted, tossing the surveillance photos back on the table. "Someone is framing him." She didn't know who, or why, but it was the only explanation she had for the pictures.

"It's a good way to flush a guy out of hiding," Steve agreed, running with Anna's statement. "Set off a bomb, get your picture taken. You've got seven billion people looking for the Winter Soldier."

"But that doesn't guarantee whoever framed him would get him. It guarantees that we would," Sharon countered. Once in CIA custody there was no way the person who framed the Winter Soldier could get to him. He'd be under constant surveillance and access to him would be limited.

"Unless one of you framed him. Hydra has taken over more advanced agencies, the CIA wouldn't be too hard," Anna countered softly, stepping closer towards the window facing the monitors as the psychiatrist started speaking again.

"Tell me Bucky, you've seen a great deal, haven't you?" The psychiatrist asked him, making Anna shake her head. Where did they find this guy? You were supposed to ease into the harder topics with PTSD patients.

"I don't want to talk about it," James muttered, staring down the shrink.

"Do you feel that, if you open your mouth, the horrors might never stop?" What a load of crap. James didn't want to talk about it because it would just give them more ammo in their case against him that they were desperately trying to build and pad with every digression he'd ever made. He wouldn't be surprised if they threw in a few from before he got drafted in the war.

"Don't worry, we only have to talk about one." James leaned his head back at the shrink's words, not caring what he wanted to talk about. James wouldn't accommodate him or the governments he worked for. At least, that was his stand until the power went out.

"What the hell is this?" James demanded.

"Why don't we discuss your home? Not Romania, and certainly not Brooklyn. No, I mean, you're real home." When the shrink pulled the red starred journal out of his bag, James' blood froze. He'd thought that thing was lost to history, just like that base was. He'd thought the men who'd used it against him had all died years ago. Obviously he was wrong. And the man before him was definitely no shrink.

"No," James whispered, closing his eyes as if he could block out the sound of the man saying words he hadn't heard in decades. Words he thought were long forgotten. "Stop," James pleaded, even knowing the man wouldn't. It was what he'd come there to do. To turn him back into the Winter Soldier after he'd worked so hard to try and bury that part of him.

With every word the man said, James found his hands clenching into fists. He needed to get out of there, to stop the man before he finished. The metal restraints took no time to break out of, but whatever material the box was made out of was more resilient. No matter how hard he punched he couldn't break through it. Not until the last word was already uttered, and there was no going back then.

…

"What happened?" Anna demanded, turning towards Sharon. Though Anna didn't fully trust her, seeing as she worked for the CIA who was partially responsible for bringing James in, she knew Sharon was her best shot for answers.

Sharon ignored her in favor of Steve, spitting out James' location. She figured if anyone could stop the Winter Soldier, it would be Steve. He was a super soldier as well. When Anna went to follow Steve and Sam, Sharon halted her retreat. Letting Steve go was one thing. He was a superhero. He could handle himself. Sam too. She'd seen him in action. Anna was human, and Tony's little sister. She could make it seem like Sam and Steve overpowered her to get out and the most her boss would do would be to chew her out. If she let Anna go, she was pretty sure the consequences with Tony would be much worse.

"Let me go," Anna insisted, struggling against Sharon's grip. Sharon was stronger than she looked.

"You'll get yourself killed," Sharon insisted, tightening her grip on the stubborn Stark. She really was more like her brother than Sharon originally realized.

"He won't hurt me. I've dealt with him when he was like this before. I can help calm him down before he does something he'll regret," Anna insisted, desperate to get to James before he did something he'd feel guilty for. Every agent in the building only cared about eliminating him as a threat, which would only set him off and cause him to fight back. Steve would try to help him, but Anna wasn't sure he'd be able to. Anna was the only one who wanted to help James instead of stop him, and the only one who might actually succeed in doing so.

"Please," Anna added softly, using every ounce of Stark charm she had in the look she sent Sharon. After a brief hesitation on Sharon's part, it worked. As soon as Sharon let her go, Anna took off in the direction she last saw Steve and Sam. She had no idea where the East wing was, but she knew Sublevel 5 was a lot of floors down from where she was. Unfortunately she'd have to take the stairs. Hopefully her lungs could hold up against her running down the stairs. It had to be better than running up them.

By the time Anna reached the lobby, she was drawing in unsteady breaths. Cursing her stupid lungs she paused, knowing if she didn't take the time to control her breathing she'd have a full on asthma attack. As her breaths returned to normal, Anna was about to continue her descent when she heard commotion from the lobby. Peaking her head out the door, she saw several CIA agents in full gear maneuvering further down the hall.

A gut feeling had her exiting the stairwell once they'd pass. If James was the Winter Soldier, he'd be looking for a way out right about now. Which meant he'd start working his way up from the sublevel. Turning the corner proved her gut correct as she saw James coming out of the stairwell on the opposite side of the building. Stepping out towards the open entryway, Anna was just about to call out to James when someone grabbed her from behind, covering her mouth with their hand.

"I caught Stark trying to escape," the unfamiliar male voice whispered, talking to whoever was on the other side of his earpiece. Stupid CIA agent. She wasn't trying to escape, she was trying to save James and inadvertently everyone else in the stupid building who was insane enough to try and stop him with force.

"Ah! She bit me," The agent shouted, pulling his hand away from her mouth but keeping his grip around her waist. His shouts had James' attention focused on them, and Anna didn't like the look in James' eyes. It was cold and calculated, and familiar. He was the Winter Soldier.

"Let me go," Anna insisted, frantically squirming in the agent's grasp. He only tightened his hold on her like a complete idiot. He didn't understand. That cold gaze promising pain wasn't focused on her, but on the agent who had a painfully tight grasp on her.

A frustrated shout pulled his attention away from escaping. It was a momentary distraction until he turned to find the source of the noise. The man had a restraining hold on a petite girl. When she turned her face towards him some part of his memory prodded against his mind. Whoever she was, she mattered. A strong urge to protect washed over him as he set his gaze on the man behind her.

In four strides he'd crossed the room. Using his metal arm, he twisted the arm that held the girl until the man released his grip in a cry of pain. He didn't know what pain was. Pulling the man away from the girl, he caught the man around the throat with his free hand. Debating between strangling him, or crushing his larynx, the sound of the girl calling out to him had him hesitating.

"James, stop. You don't have to kill him." The name she used tugged at whatever memory had him recognizing her, pulling it closer to the forefront of his mind. Releasing his hold on the man, he pulled the gun from the man's holster and used the butt of it to knock him out.

Turning back towards the girl to ensure she was okay, he found her closer than he anticipated her being. She kept her eyes focused on his as she raised her hand towards him. For a moment, instinct told him to grab her arm before she could hurt him, but then the part of his mind where the memory still fought for control pushed that instinct aside. She wasn't going to hurt him.

When her hand rested against his cheek, soft and reassuring, his eyes fluttered shut. This was familiar, she was familiar. Her name was on the tip of his tongue. Before he could fully remember it, he heard the echoing of footsteps on the stairwell. More men were coming. Opening his eyes, he took her hand in his left, gently pulling it away from his face before turning towards the stairwell.

It didn't take long to disengage the two agents that sprang from the stairwell. They lay unconscious in a heap on the floor beside him with just a few countermoves. Turning back to the girl, he wasn't exactly sure what he was going to do next, he only knew he didn't want to leave her alone. Confused at the feelings reeling inside him, he tried to focus on getting them out of there. Before he figured out his next steps, something hit him. Not a bullet, or a fist, or anything physical. It was more like a shock wave and it had him pushing the girl behind him, placing himself between her and the direction the wave hit them from.

"Tony stop. Call everybody off," Anna shouted at her brother after he sent another pulse towards them. Honestly, he was only making everything worse. She'd almost reached James. If everyone would just stop attacking him, she might be able to bring him back.

"I'm sorry, I can't do that," Tony called out, finally stepping out from behind the pillar he had taken cover behind. Tin Man wasn't himself, and he was armed. All Tony could think of was getting Anna away from him so they could subdue him and prevent him from hurting anyone else. Especially Anna. "Let her go, Tin Man."

The nickname irked him, as did the man approaching them. He didn't know why the man seemed familiar with the girl, and he didn't care. What he did understand was the man wanted the girl, and he couldn't let that happen. As the man took another step forward, he pushed the girl further behind him. He could hear even more footsteps approaching, closer than he was comfortable with. There was no getting out of this without a fight and he needed to get the girl out of there before it came to that.

"Go," he ordered, releasing his grip on the girl but not taking his eyes off of the man. "Get away from here. Now."

Anna didn't want to leave him, but the situation was out of her control. She could tell by the set of his shoulders he was set for a fight, how his metal arm was clenched into a fist while his right one shifted its grip on the gun. There would be no calming down the situation. The CIA and her brother had made sure of that. Staying would only mean more people hurt. Agents would come after her as well, which would only enrage James more. She could only pray James held on to the little piece of him she'd managed to shake free, and that it would refrain him from killing anyone. Especially her idiot brother who she tried to warn.

Instead of holding her ground, like the stubborn part of her wanted to do, Anna did what she thought would be best for James at that moment. She ran. As long as he thought she was safe, he could concentrate on keeping himself alive. She actually made it out the front doors before CIA and German forces caught up to her. Raising her hands so they wouldn't shoot her, they grabbed a hold of her and started leading her back towards the lobby.

...

Once the girl was outside, safe, he went into full attack mode. It didn't take long to find the part of his memory she'd unleashed remained in the back of his mind. After firing the gun on the man with the metal hand, he found that memory urging him not to kill, just disable. Unable to ignore it, he left both the man with the metal hand and the blonde attacker alive.

"Come on snap out of it. Anna wouldn't want me to kill you," The redhead muttered as she continually pounded his head with her arms. Finally he was able to fling her off him, his hand moving to her throat to shut her up. When she'd muttered the name he knew it belonged to the girl he'd sent away from the fight. He didn't want the redhead knowing he remembered the girl and using the girl against him.

It wasn't until the man with the cat like reflexes interrupted that he released his hold on the redhead. Realizing the newcomer wasn't going to go down as easy as the others, he made his retreat. A part of him was screaming at him to find the girl named Anna, but he didn't have time for that. It would just have to be good enough that she'd made it to safety.

…

"And I don't suppose you have any idea where they are," Senator Ross asked, trying to keep his anger under control. Not only had the Winter Soldier escaped, but Captain America and Sam Wilson were gone as well. It was a shit show with the media at the moment.

"We will," Tony insisted, trying to calm the senator down by restating all the security measures being taken to prevent Steve, Sam and Barnes from getting very far.

"We caught the Stark girl trying to run for it," an agent interrupted, pushing Anna into the conference room and causing her to stumble. She was able to catch herself by grabbing hold of the conference table. Before she could right herself Tony was there, clucking over her like a mother hen.

"Anna, thank god. What were you thinking going after Barnes?" Tony chided, completely abandoning the senator as he came to stand in front of his sister.

"I was thinking I was the only one who cared about helping him rather than shooting him," Anna retorted, pulling away from her brother's grasp. "If you would have done a little less shooting and let me actually talk to him, I could have ended this whole situation before it even started."

"Technically he was the one that was armed," Tony countered gruffly, crossing his arms.

"You don't understand," Anna ground out before turning to face the senator and the agents that stood just outside the door, always ready to shoot if necessary. "None of you understand that something during the power outage triggered him to revert back to the Winter Soldier. Which is pathetic since half of you probably have PTSD of your own. You don't help subdue it with violence," Anna had started shouting at some point in her speech, causing the agents to take a step closer as if they were going to subdue her. The senator simply raised his hand to stop them. The girl wasn't a physical threat. And she might be their best chance at finding the Winter Soldier.

"If you know him so well, where is he now?" Senator Ross asked, causing Anna's attention to fall on him, giving him the full force of her glare.

"Even if I had any clue where he went, I wouldn't tell you. You sent a task force to murder him. When he didn't even set off that bomb at the UN," Anna snapped at the senator, practically growling at the end.

Tony chose that point to step in, gripping Anna's shoulders and pulling her away from the senator before she attempted to gouge his eyes out. Though it would be entertaining to see, he was sure he couldn't hold off Senator Ross or any of his goonies if she actually hurt him.

"Don't worry Ross. We can handle this," Tony assured him, trying hard to keep his voice confident. In truth, he wasn't sure he could stop Rogers or Barnes.

"You don't get it Stark. It's not yours to handle. It's clear you can't be objective. Your own sister is dating Barnes." Stark had known about the Winter Soldier long before now. He could have turned him in, but he hadn't. The senator wasn't going to trust him to do it now.

"Engaged," Anna corrected without thinking, twisting the ring James had given her around her finger. It seemed like another life: James proposing in their tiny apartment filled with candles. A life that Senator Ross had played a part in destroying.

"Even worse," the senator retorted. "No you won't have any hand in this. I'm putting special ops on this."

"And what happens when the shooting starts? You kill Steve Rogers?" Natasha spoke up for the first time. She knew the senator had no qualms about killing Barnes, but Captain America was an icon, a hero.

"If provoked. Barnes would have been eliminated in Romania if it wasn't for Rogers." Ross knew the backlash would be bad if he had to kill Rogers, but he would do what needed to be done to get Barnes. "There are dead people who would have been alive now. Feel free to check my math.

"All due respect, you're not going to solve this with boys and bullets Ross." Anna couldn't help but stare at Tony for his remark. She'd been saying that since the beginning, but nobody listened to her. "You've gotta let us bring him in."

"And how will that end any differently than last time," Ross countered, not convinced.

"Because this time I won't be wearing loafers and a silk shirt. 72 hours, guaranteed," Tony retorted, making Anna roll her eyes. He'd just said boys and bullets weren't going to solve this. A boy in a fully armored suit was much worse than bullets.

"36 hours. Barnes, Rogers, Wilson," Ross relented before taking his leave from the room. As soon as he was gone, Anna turned on Tony.

"You're suiting up, seriously?" Anna couldn't believe Tony. He'd try everything before letting her just talk with James.

"After his little Wild West stunt in the main lobby, yes," Tony shrugged, trying to ignore Anna's stare. In that moment she eerily resembled their father after Tony had done something that both angered and disappointed him.

"We're seriously understaffed," Natasha spoke up, coming to stand beside Tony. She couldn't take the tense silence between the siblings any longer. "I have an idea."

"Me too," Tony rose to the bait. "Where's yours?"

"Downstairs," Natasha answered, confused at Tony's question. "Where's yours?"

"A little farther than that," Tony responded, making his way out of the conference room. "Keep an eye on Anna Banana while I'm gone," Tony called back to Natasha. He didn't trust the CIA agents to prevent her from leaving. The whole lot of them were incompetent. If anyone could make sure Anna stayed put, it was Natasha.

* * *

 _A/N: Hello all my lovely readers! I can't believe how all of this flew out of my head so fast. I wrote all of it today, which is impressive for me. I think watching civil war while I write is really helping getting my imagination flowing. I hope you enjoyed this update as an early Happy New Years present. Keep an eye out on my profile page as I might be uploading more one shots. Either in Warning signs about different parts of Anna and brents relationship (maybe how the met or how anna left etc) or it could be a new slew of one shots of Anna growing up with her parents and tony and maybe even some of anna during the first avengers. I want to get to all of them and I will try to notify you all in an authors note when I do get around to posting them, but they may come between updates. You never know. Anyways I can't wait to hear what everybody thinks so far!_

 _Now onto guest review responses!_

 _Janya Aw: I know, anya and bucky are never able to catch a break, huh? I couldn't really fit the black panthers POV in this chapter to show his take on anna but I will be trying to incorporate it in the next chapter. And I can't wait to have Anna and the Scarlet witch meet. This whole movie is going way to fast already though. I think I'm pretty much at the halfway point at its only three chapters into the Civil War plot. I don't want it to end just yet. Anyways hope you enjoyed the chapter!_

 _Aubri: I used to have a schedule but with my new job it's hard to stick to one schedule. The most often I'd post would be on weekends. Look on Mondays/Tuesdays once the holidays are over since Mondays are like my Sundays if I write over the weekend I will most likely post Monday afternoon/night. I'm so happy you enjoyed both parts 1 and 2 so much you binge read it. Hopefully you continue to love it._

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	27. Chapter 27

Relentless Chapter 27

 _"I don't want to feel numb. Falling over all of my shadows yeah, I'm all done. Cause none of that ever really mattered. It hurts to live so wide awake, but it's a chance I can take. I won't run, run, run. Cause I don't want to feel numb," David Archuleta Numb._

When James woke his head was radiating a dull throbbing pain and his left arm was pinned down by some kind of body shop machine. Confused and slightly dazed, he tried to focus on how he'd gotten from the box prison to the abandoned building. The last thing James could remember was the man with the red journal. Everything else was blank until he closed his eyes and saw Anya struggling against the arms of an agent.

"Hey Cap," Sam's shout had James eyes opening. At least he knew who was restraining him now. He couldn't blame them, knowing what the words etched in the journal turned him into. He only hoped that part of his mind hadn't hurt Anya.

"Steve," James murmured, his eyes flashing up towards his best friend from another life. He hadn't known whether to trust him or not when he'd shown up in Anya and his apartment. After everything that had happened, he knew he could. Steve went against the law to help him. That meant a lot for a by the law man.

"Which Bucky am I talking to?" Steve asked, sounding guarded. He didn't know who James would wake up as and it would take more than him simply answering the question to get Steve and Sam to believe him. Digging through his memory he grasped for something he could say, something he'd remembered that would convince Steve he was James and not the Winter Soldier. He chose two personal details. One that was overlooked by most historians and one that wouldn't be common knowledge to anyone who had read up on Captain America.

"Your mom's name was Sarah. You used to wear newspapers in your shoes," James responded, smiling at the latter memory.

"You can't read that in a museum," Steve commented, glancing at Sam to see where he stood.

"Just like that we're supposed to be cool?" Sam asked. He didn't care if it proved Bucky was sane once more, it didn't erase the fact he'd slammed Sam into the wall and dropped Steve down an elevator shaft.

"What did I do?" James bit out, bracing himself for the worst.

"Enough," Steve's clipped response had James' gut sinking. He must have really did a number to receive that look from Steve.

"Anya?" James could barely make himself ask, his heart hammering in his chest as he anticipated the worst. If he'd hurt her. If he'd killed her. He didn't want to know a life without Anya.

"She's still being held by the CIA. I think she's the only one you didn't try to…debilitate." Any remaining energy James had held onto seemed to seep right out of him at Steve's reply. He felt his whole body sag against the contraption holding his arm when he found out Anya was alive, that he hadn't even tried to hurt her.

"What happened Buck?" Steve pressed, confused as to how the doctor had caused Bucky to revert back to the Winter Soldier. He had no machine to wipe his memory, and no electricity to do so even if he'd had.

"Everything Hydra put inside me is still there," James muttered. "All he had to do was say the goddamn words."

"Who was he?" Steve hadn't recognized him, but maybe Buck had. The man did seem set on getting to Bucky.

"I don't know," James shook his head. He'd never seen the man before. Not that he could remember. He was too young to be part of the Hydra group that had held him in Siberia.

"People are dead. The bombing, the set up. The doctor did all that just to get 10 minutes with you. I need you to do better than I don't know," Steve insisted, his voice tightening in frustration. If they wanted to clear Bucky's name and stop whatever the man's plan was, they needed to identify him and find out what he wanted.

James tried to focus through the fog that was his mind once those damn words had flicked the switch in his brain. The doctor had said something before sending him on his war path. He'd asked him specific questions.

"He wanted to know about Siberia. Where I was kept. He wanted to know exactly where," James murmured once he forced his mind to clear away some of the fog.

"Why would he need to know that?" Steve pressed, needing more information. If they were going to stop the doctor they all needed to be on the same page.

"Because I'm not the only Winter Soldier." James muttered. There was a reason he'd been sent to kill Anya and Tony's parents. They had something Hydra wanted.

The new team Hydra created was unhinged, at the very edge of their control. James didn't know if it was because of the new formula, or who they chose to transform, a team who already encompassed Hydra's ideals rather than individuals. They had a fierce loyalty to one another, more so than to Hydra. Perhaps it was a combination of all of the above. When he trained them one on one, they were still able to win. They were stronger, and more determined than James had been. They weren't just soldiers, they were the human embodiment of the atomic bomb.

"Who were they?" Steve pressed, not sure he was ready to hear the answer. Hydra having more Winter Soldiers put them at a severe disadvantage.

"Their elite death squad," James muttered, rotating his metal arm. They'd finally released it from the metal trap when they realized he wasn't going to start attacking them. "More kills than anyone in Hydra history, and that was before the serum." James spat out.

"They all turn out like you?" Sam quipped.

"Worse." They didn't have pasts that needed to be erased like he had. Whatever was in the serum, mixed with their already screwed up mind sets, made them more erratic, harder to control, but not impossible.

"The doctor, could he control them?" If the doctor was after the other soldiers, and he had a way to control them, it would wreak havoc on the world as they knew it.

"Enough," James admitted. It wouldn't be easy to get the soldiers to follow him, but it was doable. He just had to get them to focus on one common goal.

"He said he wanted to see an empire fall," Steve added, recalling the doctor's last words to him before Bucky started attacking. He hadn't had time to question what empire and how he was going to make it fall. At least the how might be a bit clearer with the new information presented. Not that knowing the doctor's plan did much good when Steve had no idea how to stop it.

"With these guys he could do it," James insisted. "They speak 30 languages, can hide in plain sight, infiltrate, assassinate, destabilize. They could take a whole country down in one night and you'd never see them coming."

Great. There was a madman doctor out there with the knowledge of where these killer super soldiers were and who wanted to use them to end at least one 'empire' if not many. Sometimes Sam missed his oblivious days where all this superhero, supernatural bull was kept hidden and secret by the government. If there was no way to stop it from happening, at least he could enjoy his days in peaceful ignorance until the inevitable doomsday. Protecting the world used to be a whole lot simpler. It could still be simpler if the avengers weren't in the middle of a family feud.

"This would be a lot easier a week ago," Sam whispered.

"If we call Tony," Steve started, debating on whether it would be worth it to even try. He knew it would be easier if they had the whole team with them on this, but that wasn't an option anymore.

"He wouldn't believe us," Sam sighed, knowing that Tony was too stubborn to admit he'd been wrong about the attack in Vienna.

"Even if he did," Steve countered.

"Who know if the accords would let him help," Sam completed Steve's thought process. Tony had already signed the accords and was bound by whatever they said. Even if Tony wanted to get involved, the governing body that now controlled what he could and couldn't do as Iron Man would probably prevent him from helping.

"We're on our own," Steve sighed, not exactly sure how they were going to get to the doctor and stop him while every major European country's law enforcement was on the lookout for them. They needed more man power. He needed his shield. They needed time and allies they didn't have.

"Maybe not," Sam countered. At Steve's questioning look he added "I know a guy."

…

"Are you hungry?" Natasha asked, taking a seat beside Anna at the conference table.

"Not particularly," Anna muttered, crossing her arms and looking away from Natasha. She wasn't lying, her stomach felt uneasy, but that wasn't the only reason she was declining food. Anna was pissed. The CIA and her brother refused to listen to her and let her ease James out of whatever had a hold on his mind. Now she was being told to just sit and wait while Tony made plans to bring in James and Steve by whatever means necessary. True, pouting was childish, but that didn't mean Anna was above pouting. If they were going to treat her like a child she would act like one.

"Too bad, you need to eat. I can't have you passing out from hunger on my watch. Tony would kill me, and I actually like you," Natasha retorted, setting a turkey sandwich and bottled water in front of Anna.

"What are you going to do if I don't eat the sandwich?" Anna asked, trying to decide if it would be better to force some food down or to push it away like she wanted.

"I don't usually divulge that information to my victims," Natasha countered with a smirk, making Anna involuntarily grin. "Look, I know you're upset with Tony and basically everyone in this building because they're hunting down Barnes. But the simple truth of the matter is eating will let you keep your strength up and keep your wits about you. You'll need both for whatever Stark plan you're cooking up to escape custody."

Anna wanted to refute Nat's statement, but she couldn't. Her mind had been working overtime trying to figure out how to get out of there. She wasn't an idiot. She knew her chances of escape were slim to none. Especially with Natasha keeping an eye on her. That didn't stop her from running through scenarios in her head of the possibilities. If she was to even attempt to follow through on any of them, she didn't need dizziness from hunger to slow her down.

Natasha didn't try to hide her smile when Anna reached for the sandwich. If only Tony was as easy to manipulate as his sister was. Maybe then they wouldn't be in this mess.

Anna only managed to swallow a couple bites of the sandwich. Her stomach churned with each bite, an ominous warning. When her stomach lurched, she threw her hand over her mouth, managing to force out the word bathroom. Apparently one look at her was enough for Natasha to realize why she was asking. Thankfully the bathroom was only a few steps down the hall from the conference room. Not even bothering to shut the stall door behind her, Anna collapsed to her knees in front of the toilet just in time to not make a huge mess all over the fancy tile floor.

"You okay?" Natasha asked, standing just outside the open stall Anna occupied.

"I don't think anyone is okay when they have to puke," Anna grumbled before retching again. That time Natasha was there, pulling her hair away from her face. By some miracle she'd managed to avoid vomiting on it the first time.

"This isn't part of your elaborate plan to get me to let my guard down so you can escape, is it?" Natasha asked, trying to distract herself as she looked back towards the mirror instead of down at Anna. She'd never been good at dealing with puke. Blood, she could handle, but not puke.

"If it was, do you really think I'd tell you?" Anna murmured before flushing the toilet. If she had to smell the foul odor it was just going to incite her gag reflexes. "I think I'm done for now."

Easing off the floor, Anna's legs felt wobbly as she made her way to the sinks. After washing her hands she splashed water on her face before gurgling with water. Her throat still burned, but at least some of the taste had dissipated.

"Here, this might help," Natasha cleared her throat and handed Anna a mini bottle of mouthwash. "I'm a spy and a woman. My arsenal doesn't just include weapons," she retorted when Anna gave her a questioning glance.

"Thanks," Anna said, and she really meant it. That mouth wash was a godsend. It made her throat sting more as she gargled, but all she could taste afterwards was minty freshness.

Not even halfway back to the conference room, Anna's legs started collapsing again as her mind began to spin. Natasha's arm immediately caught her around the waist, helping her to stumble along. Each step seemed unnecessarily hard.

"What was in that mouth wash Nat?" Anna accused, her words coming out jumbled but still legible. Her brain might be having trouble processing her surroundings, but she could still remember the symptoms of a sedative. Natasha had drugged her. And here Anna had thought she was just being nice.

"I'm sorry Anna. I needed to make sure you stayed put," Natasha apologized, knowing it was for the best. Anna could be a handful, and there wasn't time to chase her down and help her brother. As much as Natasha wished she could trust Anna to sit and wait while they took care of things, she knew it wasn't going to happen. Anna's track record proved that.

Anna only hung onto consciousness as far as the conference room doors. Natasha felt her whole body give out and barely had enough time to heft her up into her arms before she collapsed on the floor. Perhaps she'd used a bit too high of a dose in the mouthwash because she should have been able to make it to the helicopter. It was just hard to gauge how much would be absorbed when she wasn't swallowing it.

"Is it common where you are from to sedate your friends?" T'challa asked as he slinked around the corner.

"You don't know Anna like I do. She's prone to stubborn idiocy at times. Especially when it comes to people she loves," Natasha retorted, shifting her grip on Anna and hitting the up arrow by the elevators. The last thing she needed was to be judged for her actions. She'd already been feeling a little guilty for drugging Anna. But she was a little spitfire and trying to get her on the helicopter while conscious would be like wrestling a cat into a bath. Then there was the chance that, once on the helicopter, she'd try to redirect it herself. Which would result in it crashing because everyone knew Anna and technology didn't exactly coexist well. She couldn't even drive a car.

"Do the law enforcement officers know you are moving her to another location?" T'challa asked.

"We both know you already have the answer to that question," Natasha quipped back, pressing the up arrow again. The elevator was taking too long. She only had so much time to get Anna out of there before anybody else noticed.

"Is it true she's romantically involved with the man who killed my father?" T'challa turned his gaze form the redhead to the unconscious girl in her arms. She seemed so innocent, with her head cradled in the redhead's arms. She was so small and unassuming. But he had trouble believing in her innocence when she associated with someone like the Winter Soldier. From what his people had dug up on the Winter Soldier, T'challa had a hard time understanding how anyone could love such a man. He murdered countless innocent people. Wherever he went, violence followed. He couldn't understand how the girl could see past all that.

The doors dinged open before Natasha gave an answer. She wasn't sure what answer to give. Anna was romantically involved with Barnes, the ring on her left hand proved as much. But Anna insisted Barnes hadn't set off the bomb that killed T'challa's father. Even with the security camera footage, Natasha just couldn't' see Anna lying about that. She loved him, and if he had gone off the rails, she'd want him to get help. So instead of trying to find a truthful answer to T'challa's question, Natasha lightly punched the door closed button with her fist and let it carry them up and away.

When they dinged open again they were on the roof. Though the helicopter pad had been damaged by Barnes and Steve, it was still useable. Thanks to Vision, who'd sent an auto piloted helicopter to her at Natasha's request, the copter was already waiting. Making sure to buckle Anna in securely, Natasha hit the recall button on the dash and watched as the AI piloted helicopter made its way back to Avenger Headquarters. A part of her felt wrong for shipping Anna off the way she had. But she'd be safer away from the CIA, who would use her to get Barnes at any cost. Besides, Natasha had a Panther to recruit.

* * *

 _ **A/N Hello my lovelies! Guess who's back, back again. I'm sorry it's been a while. I got sick one weekend and then work exploded. Anyways I hope you enjoy this next installment. I know it's a bit shorter, but I felt I was at a good stopping point for now. Thanks for reading and let me know what you think!**_

 _ **Onto Guest review responses:**_

 _ **Janya aw: I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and so far my new year has been great. Thanks for the well wishes. Hope you have a happy new year as well.**_

 _ **To the guest who said it was the best bucky fanfic series you've found so far: thank you! That means so much. I hope you enjoyed this update!**_

 _ **Gracie: You're enthusiasm makes me smile and I'm very happy you enjoyed the two stories. Sorry to make you pine even more after a fictional character. I think we all want a James/Bucky. Hope you enjoyed this little installment :)**_

 _ **Rach**_

 _ **xoxo**_


	28. Chapter 28

_**PREVIOUSLY: James woke up snapped out of the Winter Soldier mode, in an abandoned auto shop building and Nat drugged Anna to send her off to the Avenger Base.**_

 **Relentless Chapter 28**

"If my calculations are correct, she should be waking up any second," Vision murmured, leaning over Anna Banana. An unfamiliar feeling stirred inside him, one that he concluded came from Jarvis' memory bank.

"Jarvis?" Anna croaked out, recognizing the voice that seemed to hover over her. Blinking her heavy eyelids, the world seemed to be a jumble of black spots broken up by bright light. When her eyes finally focused to find a red robot man leaning over her, Anna shouted. Backtracking into the pillows of the couch she was on, Anna ended up falling off the arm of the couch and landing in a heap on the floor.

"Are you all right, Anna Banana?" The red man asked as he floated closer to her. The only ones to call her by that nickname were Tony and Jarvis. But Jarvis was an AI. He didn't have a body.

"What did Tony do to you, Jarvis?" Anna asked, peeking over the arm of the couch.

"My name is Vision. But I can understand your confusion. Some small parts of me contain the Jarvis you are referring to, including my voice."

"So, what? Tony finally played Frankenstein to make you? I suppose it was only a matter of time," Anna muttered, trying to make sense of the thing…person…talking robot? Whatever Vision was.

"Would you like some tea? I've read it calms humans down," Vision commented, taking in Anna Banana's shaking form. If she was cold, it could warm her up. If she was in shock, it might help calm her nerves.

"I want to know what's going on. Where am I?" Thumping her fist on the arm of the couch had Anna wincing at the impact. It looked softer than it actually was.

"Natasha doesn't want me to disclose the whereabouts of our location. But know you are safe," Vision assured her, hovering over to the kitchen to make the tea she hadn't accepted. "This is for your own good, Anna Banana."

"I've heard that before." The new voice had Anna whipping her head towards the hallway where she found a girl with long auburn hair leaning against the wall. "They grounded you too?"

"I guess you could call it that," Anna muttered, caving in and taking a seat on a stool by the counter. Her stomach was churning, and she didn't really fancy puking again. Tea didn't sound too bad. "I'm Anna."

"I figured. Tony and Steve talked about you a lot." Taking a seat beside the girl, Wanda found herself comparing her with the mental image she'd created of the legendary Anna Stark. She was shorter than she'd pictured, but she did have Tony's eyes. "I'm Wanda."

"I know. You made front page news after Sokovia." When Wanda's shoulder's slumped in response, Anna sensed it wasn't a very fond memory for her. "You saved a lot of people."

"And a lot of people died. Good, brave, heroic people," Wanda muttered, wiping a tear from her cheek.

"You lost someone close to you," Anna murmured, recognizing the faraway look in Wanda's eyes and the pain etched into every minute expression her face flicked through. Anna had seen all of that in the mirror each day after Tony went missing.

"My brother. How did you know?" Wanda inquired, wondering if perhaps Steve or Tony had told her. She knew none of the papers had ever mentioned Pietro. They'd only focused on the surviving Avengers.

"I've been where you are." It wasn't exactly the same. Tony hadn't really died, but it was real for Anna. She'd had a funeral, spoken his eulogy. For several months, he'd been dead in her world.

"I was just lucky enough that Tony came back," Anna pressed on, pushing her tea towards Wanda. "I'm sorry for your loss. Losing the last piece of family you still have tilts your whole world upside down and leaves you feeling alone no matter how many friends you have supporting you."

"Are you sure you aren't a psychologist instead of a surgeon?" Wanda teased, taking a sip of the tea Anna had offered her only after Vis had given Anna another cup.

"I'm sorry, I'm getting too deep." Anna ducked her head, blowing on her tea before taking a sip. She'd always been more in touch with her emotions than Starks normally were. She took after her mother in that sense. At least that's what Tony and Jarvis always used to tell her.

"No, it's nice to hear what I'm feeling is normal. It's been so long since I've been anything close to normal." Wanda responded, pulling on her energy and directing it to her right hand as she let its red glow weave between her fingers.

"Normal is only relative, I suppose," Anna quipped as she watched Wanda play with the ball of red light. After Thor and the attack on New York, Anna found a girl playing with light that had no known source fairly normal.

"I like you better than your brother," Wanda commented with a smile. Before Anna could respond, Wanda's red light had encircled the tea pot, moving it towards them to pour herself more tea.

Suddenly Anna wasn't seeing Wanda, but the notebook she'd kept while at Hydra. Two blood samples. A boy and a girl. The boy had increased speed down to the cellular level. The girl had telekinetic abilities. Wanda was the Hydra experiment Anna had studied. Once again Anna's vision became blurry spots of black and light. Eventually everything went black as she felt herself slipping off the stool.

Letting the tea pot crash to the counter, Wanda shifted her power until it wrapped around Anna before she hit the floor. She should have known better than using her powers so nonchalantly. If someone wasn't used to it, well it could cause reactions such as Anna's.

"Maybe you should put her down before you hurt her," Vision murmured, moving to hold Anna so Wanda could withdraw her power from around her.

"She's not a bomb. I can handle containing her energy," Wanda muttered, retracting her power anyway. Vis' comment had cut into her self-confidence.

"I did not mean to offend you. I only want to make sure no harm comes to her while she is under my supervision," Vision amended as he carried Anna down the hall. She needed a comfortable place to rest before she woke up. Out of all the rooms, Wanda's would be the best. Steve's was all tucked in bedsheet corners and barren walls, as comforting as an army barrack. Sam's was no different. Natasha's was dark, black being the main color scheme. And since he didn't sleep, his room didn't have a bed. Wanda's was the most normal out of all of their rooms.

…

Soft cotton sheets surrounded her when Anna returned to consciousness. A little disoriented, she blinked her heavy eyes, reaching out to the other side of the bed to find it cold and empty.

"James?" Anna murmured, scooting to a seated position. It wasn't until her eyes adjusted to the bright light of the room that she realized she wasn't in their little apartment in Romania. The events of the past day came crashing down on her, making Anna's heart sink in her chest. Reaching up to the star necklace, she traced the pointed edges with her fingers. At the moment it was the only part of James she had and having a part of him with her helped calm her down.

"Who's James?" Wanda asked from the chair she was perched on, her legs crossed beneath her. Anna hadn't realized she was there. Her question made Anna pause. There was no easy way to explain what James and she had. They were each other's home and safe place. But saying anything like that out load would sound too corny for Anna to handle.

"My Fiancé," Anna responded, her hand moving from the star necklace to the ring on her left hand, twisting it around her finger. It was the simplest answer, even if it didn't really capture their relationship to the fullest extent.

"Weren't you on the run from HYDRA?" Wanda inquired, confused how one could become engaged while running for their life.

"We both were," Anna whispered, looking down at the ring. It still felt foreign on her hand. That's how new their engagement had been. How short-lived their happiness had been.

"Where is he now?" Wanda pressed, moving from the chair to the edge of her bed, folding one leg under her and leaving the other foot resting against the floor.

"I don't know. We were separated." Anna didn't even know if James was himself, or if he was still the Winter Soldier that the psychologist had somehow turned him back into. For the world's sake, she hoped he was himself again.

"I'm sorry," Wanda murmured sincerely. "And I'm sorry for freaking you out earlier."

"You didn't," Anna insisted. "It wasn't your powers that had me freaking out. It was the realization they triggered."

"Realizing I meant it when I said I hadn't felt normal in a while?" Wanda joked, pushing her leg off the floor so she was sitting cross legged on the bed.

"Realizing what Hydra was trying to have me do when I was captured. That they wanted to have me make more people like you, and your brother," Anna whispered. If there was any doubt left that perhaps Wanda wasn't the blood sample she'd spent days studying in the Hydra lab, Wanda's lack of refusal that Hydra had given her telekinesis obliterated it.

Wanda didn't know what to think about Anna's answer. She hadn't expected her to work for Hydra under any capacity. Perhaps she hadn't done it willingly. Though she found it hard to believe any Stark could be forced to do something against their will.

"Is that why you were running from them, because you refused to do it?" Wanda pressed.

"No. They had control of my mind and made me believe in my work. I tried to do it, without success. I was running because after my brother and the rest of the Avengers saved me, I was on Hydra's hit list. I know too much." Even though she couldn't remember half of her time at Hydra, she was a threat in their eyes.

A sick feeling of guilt squeezed Wanda's heart. She couldn't help but recognize the similarities of what Hydra had done to Anna's mind to what she could do to people's minds: manipulating minds to see what she wanted them to. Hydra had put her through many tests. If one of those tests had allowed Hydra to control an innocent's memories and mind, Wanda would never be able to apologize enough. She was trying to think of something to say, when Anna beat her to it.

"Is there somewhere I could get cleaned up?" Anna asked when the conversation died off. She could really use a shower, and it might be the only place she would be alone. Since she'd been shipped off to wherever she was, she'd been under supervision. Even while unconscious. It'd be nice to get some time alone to think and try to figure out where she went from there.

"Of course, follow me," Wanda murmured, deciding to let the previous conversation drop just as Anna had seemed to do.

Wanda led her to the bathroom attached to the room. It was bright with white subway tiles and silver fixtures that reflected the light from the long, thin window set high on the adjacent wall. It was too high for Anna to reach, and too small for her to get through. Though she doubted it even opened. The only door to the room led to the bedroom. There was no means of escape there.

"There's towels in the closet and soap in the shower," Wanda instructed before leaving, shutting the door behind her.

Locking the door before Anna stripped down, she let the water run while she grabbed two of the white fluffy towels from the closet. She stood under the stream of water for a while before reaching for the shampoo, letting the water warm her skin. Washing her hair first to get it over with, Anna used her fingers to comb conditioner through her hair. Her fingers got stuck a couple times, and she had to carefully try to pry them out before applying more conditioner. Eventually she managed to work out all the tangles.

Lathering the soap in her hands, she began washing. Closing her eyes brought memories of James hands moving soap over her body and how his calloused skin created goosebumps on hers. Just thinking about it had her skin buzzing. Willing to lose herself to memories of James, Anna's eyes flew open when she felt her hand trace over an unfamiliar scar on her upper arm. Rinsing the soap from her left arm, she found a tiny, thin white scar that was barely raised. Anna tried to remember what she could have done in the past months to cause it, but she couldn't recall ever injuring that part of her body. It was too precise to be caused by anything but a knife and she'd never been cut on her inner left arm.

Before she could spend any more time thinking about the weird new scar, a wave of nausea pushed aside any thoughts but getting to the toilet. Dripping water all over the tile floor, Anna just managed to make it to the toilet before losing any food she had left in her stomach to the porcelain bowl. Waiting a few minutes to make sure it was over, Anna flushed the toilet and raised herself onto her shaky legs. Wrapping a towel around her, she made her way to the sink. Rinsing her mouth out with water and, after a mental debate, the mouthwash sitting by the sink.

Staring at herself in the mirror, her wet hair plastered against her face, Anna tried to understand the new nausea attacks. It wasn't food poisoning, and it wasn't from whatever Nat had given her. She wouldn't get a reprieve from the nausea if it was food poisoning, at least not one as long as she had. And too much time had passed for it to be from the mouthwash incident. Moving her left hand up to push her hair away from her face, the reflection of her scar caught Anna's eyes. Slowly her brain started putting a theory together.

Twisting her arm so her inner left forearm faced up, Anna found an identical thin scar where she'd injected a tracker before heading to the lake house what seemed like decades ago. Hydra had scanned her body for tracking devices, disabled them, and removed them for good measure. The problem was, she hadn't had a tracking device in her upper arm. Moving her hand back up to her upper arm, Anna began feeling around for the implant she almost always forgot about, only to feel nothing beneath her skin. Hydra really didn't recruit the brightest people for agents. The idiots had mistaken her birth control implant for a tracker.

Putting two and two together, Anna felt her body freeze as she glanced down towards her stomach. She'd been without birth control for months now. She couldn't remember when her last period was supposed to be, but she knew she hadn't had it for a little while. Normally she wouldn't jump to conclusions, but with all the evidence stacking up, including the sudden nausea, there was one answer glaring her in the face. She might be pregnant.

Just thinking the word had her gripping the sink in support. It's not as if she had never thought about having kids. But that was in the future. Years in the future. Now was not a good time for her to be pregnant. Not with Hydra after her and James. Not to mention the CIA and the rest of the world's Special Forces hunting him down. Even Tony was after him. Not when she didn't even know where James was. No, now was definitely not a good time to be pregnant.

Even knowing it wasn't the most opportune time for it to happen, the thought of having James' baby inside her had her heart fluttering and the edges of her lips twitching into a small smile. They'd never talked too much about the future. Would he want children? Shaking her head, Anna tried to get her brain to stop overanalyzing everything. There was no use worrying about anything until she found out for sure she actually was pregnant.

"Anna," Wanda knocked on the door, startling all thoughts of babies and James out of Anna's head. "I've laid some of my clothes out on my bed for when you're done."

"Thanks, I'll be out in a few minutes," Anna called back, moving to shut the shower off. She'd left it running in her mad dash to the toilet earlier. Taking a deep breath, Anna splashed her face with cold water before emerging from the bathroom, forcing her thoughts away from her possibly pregnancy and on what she'd have to do to the clothes Wanda had picked out for her. Wanda was several inches taller than Anna, meaning her clothes would not naturally fit.

…

James was used to waiting. Patience was a necessary trait when you were an assassin. Still, he found himself antsy as Steve made his call to Sharon. Steve said they could trust her, but it wasn't the fact that she was in the CIA that had him nervous. It was the answers she could provide about Anya. James couldn't decide if not knowing anything, or finding out something terrible was better.

Slipping his right hand into the pocket of his jeans, James pulled out the small plastic card he always kept there. It was broken along the top, but Anya's picture was still intact. Tracing the edges of the card with his fingers, James leaned back against the wall. He immediately shifted his weight from his false relaxed stance when Steve came back into the room.

"What did she say?" James asked, his palm sweaty as he thought about all the negative answers Steve could give.

"She agreed to meet us and bring us what we need," Steve responded, avoiding the answer he knew James was really looking for. He wanted news of Anna. Steve just knew he wouldn't necessary like what news he had.

"Did you ask about Anya?" James pressed. He was glad Sharon had agreed to help, but that wasn't what he'd meant when he asked what she'd said.

"Anna is fine," Steve started slowly. "She's not with the CIA anymore."

"What do you mean she's not with the CIA anymore? Did she escape custody?" James demanded, running a shaky hand through his hair. Anya with the CIA wasn't exactly a best case scenario, but it was a Hell of a lot better than with Hydra. Who was still looking for her, as well as Rumlow. Both of who could get to her if she wasn't somewhere secure.

"Tony's coming for us. He put Nat in charge of her and, well. Nat drugged her and shipped her off to the Avenger's base," Steve's words strung together as he rushed through the last sentence. It didn't help any, if Bucky's clenched jaw and steely expression was any indication of how he took the news.

"She drugged her?" James spat out, trying his best to keep his voice down. The building they were in was supposedly abandoned, and he didn't want to draw anyone's attention to it by shouting as loud as he wanted to.

"Just a little sedation. You and I both know Anna wouldn't go willingly. And being with Vision and Wanda is a lot better than having her with the CIA," Steve defended Nat's decision. He didn't necessarily agree with her technique of getting Anna away from the CIA, but at least Anna would be safer at the Avengers base.

"You're sure she's safe," James asked, his thumb rubbing the laminate of the plastic card in his right hand.

"I wouldn't lie to you Buck. She's with two of my teammates. I trust them to keep her safe," Steve reassured him. James still didn't like not knowing exactly where Anya was, and not choosing the safe place for her to stay himself. He didn't like being so far away from her.

"Let's just do what we need to do to stop this guy," James replied, sliding the card back into his pocket. The sooner they dealt with the problem at hand, the sooner he could see Anya again.

* * *

 _A/N: Hey everyone! Long time no chat. Finally got the next chapter out and I hope you enjoyed it. I'm really liking how it's going so far._ _ **I've been thinking lately about how it would be if this all took place during Captain America the First Avenger and Anna was Howard's sister. How would her and before the war/ early war Bucky get along. It's inspired some interesting scenes in my head lol.**_ _I've also been watching Vampire Diaries on Netflix starting with Season 1 again and have decided that one day I might want to write a Jeremy/OC fanfic spanning from 1_ _st_ _season on. It'd be fun. Anyways, obviously my laziness and love for Netflix has distracted me from the story. I'll try not to let it happen again!_

 _Rach_

 _Xoxo_

 _Onto Guest review responses:_

 _Guest who couldn't wait for the next chapter: hope it was everything you wanted and more!_

 _Hannah: I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the last chapter :)_

 _Jo: Wow, I left you speechless. Nice to hear you liked it that much_

 _Gracie: I'm so happy you liked the dialogue between Nat and Ann as well as the little bit of T'challa I added in. I tried to make it flow and make them seem in character, as I always strive to do. Hope you enjoyed this chapter just as much._

 _Guest who asked if Anna was pregnant: You'll find out later if she's actually pregnant or if it's just a pregnancy scare._

 _Guest who wanted me to write more: hope this made you happy!_

 _Anonymouscsifan: I'm glad finding this story interested you enough to start reading the first part. And to hear you made it through both stories and are still enjoying the story is awesome. Hope you continue to like the story._

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	29. Chapter 29

**Relentless Chapter 29**

"Do you have any twos?" Wanda asked, smiling when Anna handed over a two.

"Are you sure you're not cheating?" Anna grumbled. The two of them were sitting cross legged on the couch, facing each other while playing Go Fish. Anna had been doing most of the fishing.

"You would already have lost if I was," Wanda retorted as she shuffled around her cards. She was having fun. Anna was easy to talk with, and when neither could sleep they started playing card games. It wasn't long till Wanda realized Anna was as competitive as her brother.

"How exactly does the mind reading part of your powers work again?" Anna asked, as she fished around when Wanda had no queens. She was trying to sound nonchalant, but she was a little nervous Wanda might be able to read her thoughts and see that pregnancy had been bouncing around the back of Anna's head since her shower.

"I can't read minds, exactly. I can explore people's minds with my power if concentrate my power in towards their mind. That's how I could make people see their worst fears. I haven't really practiced that aspect of my powers too much though. For some reason, no one has volunteered their mind as a test subject," Wanda answered, an amused smirk tilting up one side of her lips

"So you haven't been trying to read my mind or my motives?" Anna pressed. Not only did she want to keep all thoughts of pregnancy away from Wanda and her powers, she also didn't want the fact she'd been looking for opportunities to escape the base to be known. It would kill the element of surprise when she finally tried.

"Why, you have thoughts you don't want me to know?" Wanda challenged, raising her eyebrows inquisitively.

Before Anna could think of a good answer to Wanda's question, they were interrupted by a distant rumble that caused some of their playing cards to fall from the couch cushion between them to the floor. Bright flames licking at the treetops out the window behind Wanda had Anna rising from her seat.

"Oh my God," Anna murmured, standing beside Wanda in front of the window to take in the damage.

"What is it?" Wanda asked as Vision suddenly floated through the floor to stand on her other side, causing Anna to jump. She wasn't used to anyone floating through solid barriers yet.

"Stay here, please," Vision ordered as he melted through the wall to see what had caused the explosion.

Anna felt her stomach drop at the sense of déjà vu. The situation felt eerily similar to when Rumlow had attacked Stark Tower. But he couldn't have found her there. And even if he had, he wouldn't get to her when Vision could float through walls and Wanda could move things with her mind. Right?

Caught up in her mental mumblings, Anna didn't even realize someone approaching from behind them until Wanda had the knife soaring across the room. A split second of relief at having Wanda on her side turned to horror as she turned to see the target. It wasn't Rumlow; luckily, Wanda stopped the knife before it hit her mark.

"Clint!?" Anna cried out in confusion and relief. Was he the one who set fire to the trees? Why did he need to explode things? He was an Avenger, even if retired, and this was the Avenger's base.

"Guess I should have knocked," Clint quipped with a crooked smile as he flicked the knife poised centimeters from his forehead to the side.

"Oh my God," Wanda breathed out. "What are you doing here?"

"Disappointing my kids," Clint retorted, not missing a beat as he pulled an arrow from his quiver and shot it at the wall. "We're supposed to go water skiing," he added as he let another one loose on the opposite wall.

"Was the explosion really necessary?" Anna muttered. She hadn't appreciated the pinpricks of fear that stabbed her heart at the thought that Rumlow had come for her…again.

"I needed a diversion for Vision," Clint shrugged. "Cap needs our help, c'mon," he added, speaking directly to Wanda as he took her by the hand and started pulling her towards the exit. He didn't have time to explain more than that. He needed to get Wanda out of there before Vision caught on. Which meant leaving Anna behind. As much as he liked and respected her, she would be safer with Vision than with him. Especially when he was headed towards a battlefield.

"Clint, wait. Where are you going?" Anna called out, starting to follow them. She really didn't want to be left alone with the creepy robot that sounded like Jarvis, but wasn't. When Vision miraculously materialized through the wall again Anna involuntarily let out a little squeak of surprise. He had to stop doing that.

"Clint, you should not be here," Vision called out over Anna.

"Really? I retire for what, like, five minutes and it all goes to shit," Clint retorted, causing Anna to smile. She'd missed his sense of humor.

"Please consider the consequences of your actions," Vision implored in Jarvis' calm voice, floating closer to them.

"Okay, they're considered," Clint spat out just before some sort of electrical current trapped Vision. It had Anna letting out another startled squeak. "Okay, we gotta go," Clint added to Wanda, making a beeline for the door. Only Wanda didn't follow, pivoting on the spot as she watched Clint run away.

"It's this way," Clint added, pointing towards the doors to try and get Wanda to start moving. They only had so much time.

"I've caused enough problems," Wanda muttered, looking down at her hands as she fidgeted with her sleeves. Her response had Clint sighing. He was going to have to give her another emotional pep talk just like back with Ultron. Hopefully the electrical current held Vision long enough. He'd have to give her the sparks notes version.

"You've gotta help me Wanda. Look you wanna mope, you can go to high school. You want to make amends, you get off your ass." Hopefully that was motivating enough. Because they'd just about run out of time.

Anna didn't know what to do. Vision had broken free, and now he was fighting Clint. Which was ridiculous. They were supposed to be on the same side. When Clint was in a head lock, Anna almost stepped in. She had no idea what she would do, but she couldn't let robot Jarvis hurt Clint. Vision wasn't Jarvis, and she'd known Clint a lot longer than Vision. Her loyalties lied with Clint. Before she could decide how to help, Wanda unleashed power Anna had yet to see her use, physically sending Vision through multiple floors, and leaving a hole in the middle of the living room.

"Remind me never to get you angry," Anna murmured as she came to stand beside Wanda. The hole she'd made was so deep, Anna wouldn't be surprised if Vision was in China right now.

"Come on, we've got one more stop," Clint said, jostling the girls out of their thoughts. When Anna went to follow, Clint stopped her. "No way, Anna. I'm not bringing you to the epicenter of a fight. Remember New York? Or the Lake house?"

"You're not leaving me here alone," Anna insisted. "I won't get in the way. If you tell me to stay in the car, I'll stay in the car." The fear of someone attacking the base that wasn't a friend skyrocketed after everything just happened. If Clint managed to sneak on premises while two super-powered people were present, Hydra or Rumlow could do it with none there. Besides, if Clint was going to Steve, that meant he was going back to Europe. If she tagged along, she'd be closer to finding James.

"Fine," Clint sighed, knowing he'd hear it from Cap if he left Anna all alone at base with no one to help defend her against any unforeseen attacks. Not to mention, he was pretty sure Barnes would break his arm and leg. "Let's get going, we're on a time crunch."

…

"So, what's your super power?" Scott asked, turning towards Anna in the backseat. Apparently the 'other stop' Clint referred to was picking up another hero and filling him up on coffee so he wouldn't experience as much Jet lag. He hadn't shut up since the flight, but this was the first time he'd spoken to her. Seeing as Anna wasn't hyped on caffeine and had actually slept through most of the flight.

"Being stubborn," Clint called out from the driver's seat before Anna could answer. As a Stark, Anna could dig her heels in with the best of them. Seeing as her stubbornness had landed her a courtside ticket to the battlefield, Clint wasn't particularly happy about it at the moment.

"I'm a surgeon," Anna corrected, wishing she had Wanda's telekinesis so she could slap Clint upside the head.

"Hey, that's helpful. Having a doctor on our side. Have you ever worked in a warzone before?" Scott probed, his voice still animated though his eyes were starting to sag a little.

"Does the alien invasion of New York count?" Apparently it did, if Scott's 'hell yeah' was any indication.

"So, is that how you met the Avengers? You helped heal them during the battle?" Scott's question confused Anna. Hadn't Clint told him who she was?

"No. My brother was an Avenger," Anna responded, squirming in her seat as Scott's gaze turned scrutinizing, his eyes squinting as they raked over her face.

"Shit, you're a Stark?" That news didn't fly very well with Scott. "If I get hurt and you screw something up trying to help, I'm suing."

Falling back down in his row of seats, Scott threw his right arm over his eyes. According to Pym, Starks couldn't be trusted. Not even cute little girls who probably didn't meet the height requirements to some amusement park rides.

Choosing to ignore Scott's comment, Anna turned her attention back to the front windshield. The last time she'd taken Dramamine had been on the flight over. The dangerous churning of her stomach told her it was wearing off, and the backseat was not the best place to be when carsick. If that's even what it was. When they hit a pot hole, Anna slapped a hand over her mouth.

"Pull over," Anna ordered desperately, already reaching for the door handle. Thankfully Clint listened, pulling as far off the road as he could. Before the car had come to a complete stop, Anna was jumping out of it and retching over the guard rail. Her hair was pulled back from her face, surrounded by red light, much to Anna's relief. Leaning against the guardrail for a few more minutes in case anything else worked its way up, Anna wiped away the beads of sweat from her forehead.

"Are you sure you don't want the front seat?" Wanda asked when Anna stumbled her way back to the car.

"I'm sure. And thanks for the help with the hair," Anna murmured as she hoisted herself back up into the back of the van. There was a chance her nausea wasn't motion sickness, and if it wasn't, then sitting in the front seat wouldn't help at all. She didn't want anyone questioning her newfound nausea.

Clint offered up peppermint gum and Anna gladly took it, sticking a piece in her mouth before tucking the pack into the black leather jacket Wanda had leant her. It was best to be prepared, that's what James had taught her. Thinking of James had her pulling her star necklace out from underneath her red tee shirt. She hoped wherever he was, he was safe.

…

"You can't be serious," Sam muttered as he stood before a Volkswagen Beetle that looked old enough to have been running during World War II. It was tiny and not known for its speed. If they got in another car chase, they would lose before it even really got started.

"It won't draw attention to it, remember we have Special Forces of at least five countries after us," Steve defended after he got the motor running. He was hoping they could avoid detection in the car.

"Shotgun," Sam called out when he realized they'd be stuck with the tiny clown car. He held the passenger seat forward so Barnes could squeeze into the cramped back seat. He sent Sam a threatening glare as he stuffed himself inside, but Sam didn't care. The extra leg room was worth it.

Traveling anywhere in the car seemed slow going. They were headed to the underpass of a bridge on the edge of Berlin to meet Sharon. Sam wasn't convinced she wasn't going to turn them over, but if they wanted a shot at beating the psychologist to Siberia, they would need their suits. Sharon was their only contact with the CIA that might not turn them in if they called in a favor. She was Peggy's niece and a friendly acquaintance of Emily's. That count for a lot in Steve's book. Sam had learned to roll with whatever plan Steve came up with. They tended to work out alright. At least, they hadn't died yet. And they'd managed to save the world a few times too.

"I hear you proposed to Anna," Steve broke the silence, glancing at Bucky in the rearview mirror. "Congratulations."

James winced at Steve's comment. He didn't feel like he should be congratulated. When he'd proposed to Anya he thought his days of being controlled by others were behind him. Now that the fake Psychologist had proven him wrong, that with a few words his mind could be manipulated even without the machine that stole his memories, James wasn't sure Anya was safe to be around him. True, he hadn't tried to hurt her after the switch in his mind was flipped. Not that time at least. But what about the next time someone tried to use the words against him? What if he was ordered to hurt her? He wasn't confident he wouldn't follow those orders, even if his heart didn't want to.

"The wedding planning might have to be put on hold for a little while," James murmured from the backseat, his shoulders hunched and his knees scrunched up behind Sam's seat. There always seemed to be something pulling him and Anya apart, or pushing back their plans for the future. He was starting to think the Universe was trying to tell him something: that he didn't deserve to be happy.

"We'll figure something out as soon as we stop the psychologist. A wedding might be just what we need to bring everyone together again," Steve retorted. Tony wouldn't miss his own sister's wedding, and it would be a neutral setting where everything could be pushed aside.

"Yeah, something tells me the groom beating the crap out of the bride's brother is going to make that wedding a little awkward," Sam chimed in with a sigh. It would take more than a wedding to patch up the wounded ego of Tony. In fact, a wedding might be rubbing salt into his wounds. Tony had never made it a secret how he didn't exactly approve of Barnes and Anna's relationship.

"We're only going to fight if it comes to it. I'm hoping Tony will come to his senses first," Steve retorted, noticing how James' shoulders hunched a little more at Sam's comment.

…

Clint had to pull over one more time before they reached the airport. That time it was so Anna could pee. Her nerves were getting the best of her, and the three glasses of water she'd had on the flight over had caught up to her. By the time they had parked on the fourth floor of the parking garage at the airport, Anna was ready to stretch her legs for longer than it took to puke or pee, which was all she got on the long ride there. However, Clint gave strict instructions that nobody was to go anywhere until Steve showed up. After what felt like hours Anna could hear the 'put put' of an engine chugging around the empty parking floors below them. Finally. As much as Anna was grateful that Clint had brought her with him, she had no plans of staying. Now that Steve was arriving, she could finally get out of the car and set to work finding James, wherever his Winter Soldier mind had taken him.

* * *

 _A/N Hello all my lovely, loyal readers. I have returned! I hope you like this installment, even if it is a little shorter than normal. I have a present to make up for it._ _ **I recently posted a one shot of Anna during Iron Man 1 titled Homecoming on my profile if you want to check that out**_ _._ _ **I am also posting just after this goes up a little one shot tentatively titled "What If" of what it would be like if Anna met Bucky back in the 1940's and was Howard's sister instead of Tony's.**_ _I had fun with it. Please check it out and_ _ **let me know what you think and if you want me to continue with the idea on to an actually full storyline.**_

 _Onto Guest Review Responses:_

 _Bunniesonrainbows: I know you last reviewed on chapter 9, but this was the only way I could respond to you. Hopefully you're still with me and the story! I love when reviews contain raw reactions with capital letters and all, they make me smile, so thanks for that. Also, I must say that your comment on me having raw talent and that I should be 'a book writer, script writer, movie writer, heck you should go to marvel right now' probably made my year. I'm on fanfiction because I love molding worlds I love with my own characters, but I am currently editing an original book and hopefully it will be ready to send out to agents soon. Sometimes my confidence in my writing falters and because of your review you helped raise my confidence again. Thank you for that! It is very much appreciated._

 _Hannah: I'm so glad you enjoyed the last update and aren't thrown off at the possibility of Anna being pregnant. I agree, they would make the most adorable babies :) Hope you enjoyed this installment and will check out the other two stories I am posting based off this universe._

 _Anonymouscsifan: I'm so happy you liked the last chapter and that you are so stoked about Anna's possible pregnancy. I was honestly expecting more mixed reviews about it. I agree, Tony will go batshit is it turns out she's pregnant, but you also know he'll eventually be the coolest uncle ever. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and thanks for reviewing!  
_

 _Jo: so happy to hear the words 'epic chapter' it means I'm not losing my mojo lol._

 _Aubri: Sorry my posting has been sporadic. Life is crazy at the moment and writing time is sparse. I'm happy you check back regularly though and that you're sticking with the story. It always makes me happy to hear people like my story, and to hear this is the only Bucky story you can really get into it just made me smile._

 _Gracie: haha I love your reaction to a possible 'BABY BARNES.' Sorry it's taken forever to update, but I hope you enjoyed this short little chapter. If Anna is pregnant I'll definitely do a reader poll about baby names!_

 _To the guest who stated they'd like to see Anna as Howard's little sister and interacting with Bucky, you're in luck. I did a little one shot. Go check it out and let me know what you think and if you want more :)_

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	30. Chapter 30

"Stay in the car," Clint ordered with a hard look at Anna once the car had parked beside them. She'd promised him she'd do what he said, and he really didn't want Cap or Barnes to know he'd let her tag along until he could explain first.

Anna sunk back into her seat with a huff when Clint slammed his car door shut and maneuvered around the van. She had no intention of staying put indefinitely, but if listening to him would gain his trust and cause him to ease up enough that she could make her escape, then she could sit in the car for a few more minutes. Although she resented Clint's order a little more when he let Wanda out of the car.

There were no windows in the back of the van, other than the rear windshield, so Anna didn't have much to go on when planning her escape route. In all honesty the odds weren't in her favor, with so many Avengers around. Taking them by surprise was the only way she'd get anywhere, so when Clint slid open the side door, jolting Scott awake, Anna leaped out of the van before he could stop her. Without even taking in her surroundings she tried to make a run for it, but Steve caught her before she'd run more than a foot. Twisting her till her back was against his chest, Steve kept his arms firmly around her waist.

"You brought Anna?" Steve asked, his arms flexing against her waist as he stared down Clint.

"Should have known you wouldn't really stay in the car if I told you to," Clint muttered, ignoring Steve's accusing stare and sending his own towards the struggling brunette he was holding.

"I am an adult, and I'd appreciate it if everyone would stop treating me like a petulant child they have to babysit just because I don't have superpowers," Anna huffed, struggling against Steve's arms in vain. He was rock solid and had no intentions of letting her go. Smart man. In the last 12 hours she'd been drugged, sent to time out with robot Jarvis, and puked three times. All her pent up anger was now focused on Steve.

"Let her go," James ordered, finally stepping free from the backseat of the clown car. A part of him agreed with Steve, wishing Anya would have stayed somewhere safe. But he couldn't deny his heart was relieved to see her again. It stuttered in his chest at the sound of her voice.

"James," Anna murmured, freezing in her struggles at the familiar voice echoing from behind her.

To her surprise, Steve listened to James and released his hold on her. Before he could reconsider, Anna took several steps away before turning to find James leaning against the car. Her James. Not the Winter Soldier. With her heart hammering in her chest, Anna raced towards James, flinging herself into his arms as he came around the back of the car to meet her.

"You're safe," Anna whispered. That's all she managed to say before James' lips crashed down on hers. One of his hands tangled in her hair as the other held her waist firmly, pulling her against him. His lips pulled desperately against hers, reassuring Anna he'd missed her as much as she'd missed him.

James couldn't help his body's response to Anya. Ever since they'd been taken in they'd been separated. Steve had filled him in briefly on what happened to her, but James hadn't been able to shake the fear in his gut that he might not see her again. There was no guarantee him or Steve would survive their run in with the psychologist. Especially if he managed to find the other Soldiers. When she'd flung herself against him, his mind and body were defenseless. If this was their goodbye, then he was going to say his goodbyes thoroughly.

Steve clearing his throat reminded James they had an audience, and had him breaking his kiss with Anya. Pulling Anya's back to his chest when she turned to face everyone, her cheeks red, James wrapped his arms protectively around her. He wasn't ready to let her go. Apparently the introductions had already been made, as a new guy stood in the middle of everyone.

"I've got a chopper lined up," Clint continued once Anna and Barnes had tuned back into the conversation instead of sucking each other's faces.

Just the thought of flying had Anna's tummy turning queasily. Although the look Clint sent her after he mentioned it had her thinking she wasn't going with the team. The thought of being left behind, of not knowing where James was going and when or if he'd return, had her gripping James forearms as he continued to hug her to him.

Before anyone could suggest where to put her while they saved the world, an announcement came over the loud speaker. Anna didn't understand a word of the French announcement, but thankfully James bent down and whispered the translation in her ear. They were evacuating the airport. That couldn't be good.

"Stark," Sam murmured, turning to Steve to see what their next move was.

"Stark? As in her brother," Scott responded, dumbly. "Can't she, like, call him off or something?"

"Tony has never listened to me," Anna retorted, a sense of dread filling her. She hadn't expected Tony and Steve's disagreement to escalate into a physical fight. And not just a fight, but a full blown war, by the looks of the team he had created.

"Anna's right. Tony can't be reasoned with right now," Steve responded, turning towards Clint. "We need to suit up."

…

"I hate this," Anna muttered, back in the van with Wanda while she changed into her ass kicking outfit. Anna still didn't have one of those, although the leather jacket Wanda had leant her had her feeling a little more badass than usual.

James and Steve had filled her in fairly quickly. They'd told her about the psychologist not really being a psychologist. How he was searching for other Winter Soldiers, and how Steve and James were determined to stop him. The fact that there were more Soldiers out there had sent Anna's mind spinning. It definitely wasn't good. Now they were suiting up to fight Tony, just so they could reach the Soldiers before the psychologist. It was a setback they might not be able to afford; an unnecessary setback. If only Tony would listen to her.

"Maybe I should try and talk to Tony again," Anna added, leaning her head back against the side door of the van. She'd followed Wanda in by choice, having no desire to see Clint or Sam or any of the others in any state of undress, even if it meant missing out on seeing James' half naked again.

"When super suits are involved, I highly doubt there's anything talking can do to ease the tension," Wanda added as she pulled on her boots.

"I just hate seeing my family fighting each other. This was not how I picture James and I coming out from hiding going," Anna sighed thinking back to their time in hiding with longing. What she wouldn't give to be back in Romania, oblivious to the disagreement the Avengers were having.

"You don't have to pick a side you know," Wanda added, seeing the torn look on Anna's face. It sucked that her brother and her fiancé would be facing off against one another, but just because they'd chosen sides didn't mean Anna had to. That was the beauty of her not having super powers.

"How can I avoid that?" Anna asked. She was sitting in the middle of one of the 'teams' now. She'd feel like a turncoat if she decided not to support Steve or stand behind James'.

"For one, you won't be fighting. Who's to say you can't cheer on your brother and your fiancé while on the side lines?" Wanda responded with a smile. Anna couldn't help but think she had a point.

"Everyone decent in there?" Clint called out, his knock on the door vibrating the metal against Anna's back. Wanda answered in the affirmative, and before Anna could move from her spot, the door was being pulled open and she was falling backwards towards the concrete.

James started forward as soon as he realized what was happening. The fall wouldn't kill Anya, but it could hurt her, especially seeing as it looked like her head would come in contact with the concrete first. He wasn't close enough to make it in time, and his heart lurched in his chest until Anya stopped mid fall, a red light enveloping her.

"I see why everyone worries over you. You seem prone to accidents," Wanda taunted once Anna was back on her feet.

"Only when super powered people are around causing those accidents," Anna retorted. "Thanks for catching me, again."

James came to stand beside her, wrapping her hand up in his as Steve began relaying the plan. Steve was going to go out alone, to try one last time to talk Tony down. If that didn't work, it'd at least provide a good diversion for Sam and James. They were to use redwing to locate a new ride for them, preferably one with cloaking abilities.

"I'm not leaving Anya unprotected," James interrupted, his grip on Anya's hand tightening. He knew he needed to follow Steve. He needed to make sure the other Soldiers didn't tear the world apart. But he couldn't leave without knowing Anya would be safe. He definitely wouldn't be letting her tag along with them. If the doctor got to the Soldiers before him, he didn't want Anya anywhere near them.

"She'll go with you and Sam to wait in the terminals. We'll keep the fight away from her," Steve insisted. It was the best they could do.

"And after we get to the plane?" James pressed, knowing there was no guarantee of Anya's safety once they left.

"I'll find her after the fight," Wanda volunteered. Anna was entertaining and easy to be around. Wanda wouldn't mind being her protection detail if that's what her fiancé needed to relax and go with the plan.

"That okay with you?" James asked, turning towards Anya. He recognized the girl from the newspaper, the one they called the Scarlet Witch, and he knew she was capable of protecting Anya. She'd already done so when Anna fell out of the van. But he wanted to make sure Anya was okay with the plan.

"I trust Wanda," Anna nodded. She knew it would ease James' mind if she had someone looking out for her, and she didn't want her safety to distract him. Distractions could lead to mistakes being made and the last thing Anna wanted was for James to get hurt.

Steve continued on with the plan after that, but Anna was only half paying attention. None of it pertained to her anyways, and she didn't want to hear who was taking on who; who would be fighting her brother. When Steve was finished everyone got an ear com, including Anna. She didn't particularly want to hear the fight, but she knew it would be useful to stay in contact with the team. If only so Wanda could more easily find her after the fight.

Following Sam towards the terminal, Anna kept her hand tight in James'. Her heart thumped in her chest at the thought of the impending fight. She didn't release her grip until they were in the elevator, the movement taking her stomach by surprise. Pressing both hands against the metal bar along the back of the elevator she took a steadying breath in through her mouth.

"Are you okay?" James asked, moving his right hand to Anya's back and rubbing soothing circles between her shoulders. Her face had paled ever since the elevator started moving.

"Yeah, just freaking out a bit," Anna lied, pushing down her nausea as they stepped out of the elevator. Right before a battle was about the worst time she could bring up her possible pregnancy. Besides, she needed to verify it's validity before freaking James out with the news.

…

"You've been busy," Steve commented, still trying to keep things lighthearted. Or as lighthearted as they could be given the circumstances. Tony had already fried the copter he was going to use, and now had his full team beside him. Including the new comer who had his shield , binding Steve's hands for good measure with some form of string that was too strong for him to break through.

"And you've been a complete idiot," Tony snapped, tired of trying to play nice. "Dragging in Clint, rescuing Wanda from a place she didn't even want to leave. Not to mention taking Anna from a safe place where she was away from the CIA and Hydra and who the hell else knows who's after her now. I'm trying to keep," Tony paused taking a deep breath.

"I'm trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart. Tearing my family apart." Tony hated the fact that Steve was getting Anna to go against him. And that he'd managed to talk some of the Avengers into fighting with him. He'd already seen Pepper almost destroyed, he didn't want to watch as the same happened to the Avengers, or his sister.

"You did that when you signed," Steve retorted, sounding quiet after Tony's shouting. His words had Tony's anger flaring even higher.

"Alright we're done," Tony muttered before raising his voice in an effort to sound authoritative. "You're going to turn Barnes over, you're going to get Anna from wherever you've stashed her thinking she'd be safe, and you're going to come with us. Now! Because it's us."

Anna rose from her seat beside James, pulling out her ear piece. She couldn't listen to the conversation down below anymore. Not the way Tony was acting as if James was a criminal. Not the way Steve threw the blame back into her brother's lap. And not with the desperation she heard in Tony's last mumbled 'come on.' It was too much. Tony and Steve's words were playing tug of war on her heart strings.

"Anya," James called out, rising from his seat to follow her. She'd looked close to tears when she'd risen from her seat.

"I just need to take a breather," Anna promised, as she paced the walkway behind where Sam still sat.

"We found it," Sam interrupted, referring to himself and red wing. Barnes hadn't even been paying attention, so he shouldn't be getting any of the credit. "The Quinjet is in hanger five, north run way."

Of course, after that announcement all hell broke loose. Clint had Steve's hands free and it seemed like everyone was being targeted at once.

"It's time to go," Sam added, rising from his seat and pulling Barnes away from Anna. If they wanted to keep Anna safe, they needed to move. They had targets on their backs now. "They're coming for us, and right now she's in the trajectory."

That got James moving, turning away from Anya, who had widened her pace and was now behind the next set of chairs. Striding a few steps, he was about to start running, to put as much distance between himself and Anya so she wouldn't get caught up in the fight, when she called out to him.

"Wait!" Anna called, racing towards James until she grabbed a hold of his left hand. His hand automatically held onto hers, the cool metal of his thumb pressing against the back of her fingers. When he turned towards her she rose up on her toes and pulled him into a kiss. A kiss he quickly returned. Anna didn't know what was going to happen, but she wouldn't let James leave without one last kiss goodbye.

"Don't die. And don't hurt my brother," Anna ordered after pulling away from the kiss.

"Get somewhere safe, and for God's sake stay there," James countered her order before forcing himself to release her hand. He didn't watch to see if she listened to him, concentrating on putting as much distance between them, running full force beside Sam.

Anna had every intention of retreating further back into the airport, until the sight of cars flying down from the parking garage caught the corner of her eye. Turning her attention towards the windows, Anna watched in horror when she realized Tony was in the middle of the cars, dodging each one as they flew at him.

"Tony!" Anna called, fumbling for her ear piece. "Wanda stop!"

Her plea came too late as Tony was crushed beneath two cars. Her breath caught in her throat as she prayed to whatever Gods were out there that Tony was okay. He had his armor on, but even Anna knew his armor had limits. He could still get hurt. He could still die. In that second, at that thought, she was thrust back to the day she'd been informed of the attack on Tony's car in Iraq. She couldn't let him die right in front of her, not when she could do something to prevent it.

Completely prepared to break every promise she'd made to stay put in the terminal, Anna turned towards the elevators. Seeing Tony blast back out of the cars, alive, had her stopping in her tracks and breathing a sigh of relief. For the time being, everyone she loved was relatively safe. That was, until the sound of shattering glass brought her attention back inside the terminal. The fight had officially reached her as she watched the web slinging boy…man, whatever he was, go after James and Sam.

It took everything in her not to chase after James and Sam. But he'd ordered her to get somewhere safe, and if she didn't follow his order was it really fair to expect him to follow hers?

…

James hadn't anticipated the onesie wearing web slinger would come after them before they got a comfortable distance away from Anya. Just like he hadn't anticipated the web slinger to be so young, but the second he spoke gave away that he was a kid. Tony had seriously recruited a kid to fight with him. Before he could debate what to do with the kid, Sam had interrupted. At least Sam flew the kid further down the terminal, away from Anya.

Following after them, James picked up one of the signs that had broken off and chucked it at the kid once he stayed still long enough for James to aim for him. Unfortunately it missed its mark as the kid threw it back at him, taking out the circular billboard James had taken cover behind. James was starting to get seriously annoyed with this kid. James and Sam needed to make it out to Steve, but the kid just wouldn't quit.

When the kid had Sam stuck to the glass railing, preparing to kick him over, James ran in between the two and braced himself for the hit. Unable to absorb the momentum from the kick, the kid had James and Sam crashing through the glass railing and falling down to the first floor. Before he could even move into a defensive stance, James' metal arm was glued to the floor by a web and Sam was wrapped up in the stuff.

Just before the kid sprayed them with more web stuff, Red Wing interrupted, dragging the kid away.

"You couldn't have done that earlier," James asked gruffly. Sam could have prevented the fight from even getting that close to Anya.

"Sometimes, I hate you," Sam grumbled back.

Bracing his metal arm, James attempted to pull it free from the sticky web, but it wasn't budging. One glance at Sam showed he was having just as much success as James breaking free. At this rate, they were never going to make it to Steve, or the plane.

"Need some help?" Anna called out, peering over the floor where the railing had broken free. She knew she was technically not following James' orders, but to be fair she'd waited for the sound of fighting to stop on their end before approaching them.

"I thought I told you to get somewhere safe," James muttered after Anya had raced down the escalator and knelt beside him.

"I'll hide away once I get you guys free," Anna retorted, tugging her jacket off and wrapping the sleeve around a large shard of glass. Once she got a good grip on it she sawed her way through the web like material, finally freeing James.

"I've got it from here. Go find a safe place. And this time don't even think about abandoning it for me or anyone else," James murmured, gently taking the shard of glass from Anya so as not to accidently nick her with it.

James waited until Anya shrugged the leather jacket back on and made it back up the escalator before turning towards Sam. Hopefully she'd really stay put that time.

…

Anna wasn't really sure what could be considered a safe place in a deserted airport terminal beside a runway that had turned into a superhero battlefield. Heading towards the line of shops opposite the glass wall, she entered one in hopes of finding a break room towards the back. She didn't have any luck. No matter where she stood she could see the glass windows. James wouldn't think it was safe enough. Remembering the bathrooms she'd passed on her way to help James and Sam, Anna figured they were probably her best bet. She could lock herself in a stall until Wanda came to find her.

It was on her way past the medicine rack that she paused, her eyes looking for some pills to help combat her churning stomach. Anything to keep her from throwing up again. After all the…excitement of the war raging outside and in the terminal itself, Anna's stomach was reminding her just how much it didn't like the anxiety she was putting her body through. When she saw the tiny box below the pills, she grabbed it as well, on impulse. She knew stealing wasn't right, but it wasn't as if the airport wasn't already trashed. What was a few more dollars of stolen merchandise compared to the millions in damage the Avengers had already done.

"Wanda, if you're listening I'm headed to the bathroom," Anna murmured before removing her ear piece and slipping it into her pocket. She didn't want to overhear what was going on outside, and she didn't want an audience in her ear for what she was about to do.

Anna chose the handicap stall, furthest from the entrance to the bathroom. Locking herself in, she pulled out the stick from the box. Following the instructions, and hoping she didn't screw anything up, she set the stick on the counter before washing her hands. Anna paced the length of the bathroom about fifty times before actually looking at the results of the test.

"Okay, you can do this," Anna murmured, psyching herself up. She was a bundle of nerves as she leaned on the counter to study the test. It took her a moment to realize what it was saying, which she put off as her nerves seeing as she'd analyzed blood test results more complicated than that. She didn't have long to digest the results before she was grabbed from behind. Before she could call out, not that she'd put her earpiece back in, a cloth was pressed over her mouth and nose. She only had a few breaths to glance up at the mirror. Her eyes were wide with fear before they took in the person who had a hold on her. By that point her vision was foggy at best, and all she could make out was what looked like a very blurry skull before she succumbed to whatever drug the cloth was soaked with. For the second time in twenty four hours she'd been chemically struck unconscious.

…

"Anna," Wanda called into the second bathroom on the first floor of the terminal, doing a quick sweep before clearing it.

"She didn't tell you which bathroom she was in?" Natasha muttered when Wanda came out empty handed. She'd intercepted Wanda heading for the terminal, resorting to one of her electro shock circles to get her to listen long enough for Natasha to prove she wasn't the enemy. She'd let Steve and Barnes go for heaven's sake.

Finding out Anna was in the terminal surprised Natasha. She hadn't thought Barnes or Steve would want her anywhere near the fight, but perhaps they hadn't had a choice. Instead of questioning it, Natasha immediately helped Wanda search for Anna. She owed the girl an apology and a drink for drugging her. She started getting an uneasy feeling in her stomach after the two bathrooms on the south end of the first floor as well as on the north end had been empty.

"No, and I didn't have time to ask her to elaborate," Wanda spat back, using her powers to lift her up to the second floor.

Rolling her eyes, Natasha ran up the broken escalator, heading for the bathroom two gates down from the one Wanda headed to. Anna wasn't in that one either, but she had been at some point. Her earpiece lay broken on the bathroom tile, crushed to pieces beside a cloth.

"Shit," Natasha muttered as she sniffed the cloth. Chloroform. She recognized the subtle, chemically sweet scent. Scanning the surroundings for any clues as to who had taken Anna, or where they'd taken her, Natasha found the pregnancy test laying on the counter.

"Double shit," Natasha muttered as she compared the results to the instructions that had been abandoned on the floor in the last bathroom stall. There were two dark pink lines. Anna was pregnant.

* * *

 _A/N: Hello lovelies! I'm back, and only a week later. Which is good for me lately. Especially since I had to travel to Fargo, ND for a CE training this weekend so today was my only writing day for the weekend. I wrote this whole chapter in one day. I haven't done that in a while._ _ **Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. QUESTION TIME: would you guys mind terribly if I change up the civil war plot and possible did my own thing like at the end of winter soldier instead of waiting for the next time Bucky is in a movie (possibly 2018)? That would mean I wouldn't be following the movie plot anymore but I could make my own plot and I could write more instead of waiting a year and a half to continue on the story line. Let me know what you think. ALSO, I have decided after the response to my What If one shot that I will extend it into a full blown story. I will be posting the next chapter soon, hopefully tonight if I continue on my roll.**_ _I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!_

 _Onto Guest Review Responses:_

 _Jo: I'm so happy you loved the last chapter! I hope you enjoyed this one as much. It was definitely longer!_

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	31. Chapter 31

**Relentless Chapter 31**

 **" _I will love you like goodbye, I will love you like you died, died a martyr for me. Don't you look so shocked it's not the way I planned it. I deserve a little more wouldn't say. Don't you fight back, no this will hurt less if you just submit...One day you will learn to love me. One day you will thank me you'll see. If I can't have you, no one can." Toy Soldiers by Mariana's Trench_**

Anna's mouth felt like cotton. That's the first thing she noticed when she regained consciousness. The second was pain. Her wrists ached and her right arm was heavy with tingling numbness. Blinking her eyes open, Anna found the room she was in, bathed in darkness. She couldn't tell where she was, or how big the room was. Unable to get her bearings caused a harsh wave of nausea to ripple through her stomach, causing Anna to lean over and dry heave. She didn't have much of anything to force up. Her energy was running dangerously low and Anna had a feeling she would have collapsed in a heap on the floor were it not for the tight cuffs that dug into her wrists, pulling her back against the wall behind her.

Leaning her head back against the wall Anna felt her chest tighten, continuing up into her throat until she was heaving unsteady breaths. There was no telling how long she had been unconscious. She had no idea what country she was in. But worst of all, she didn't know how long she'd been without food or water. Normally, it wouldn't bother her as much. Humans can survive weeks without food and days without water. But she wasn't the only one that needed food and water.

Glancing down at her stomach, it was hard to believe it was true. It didn't look any different. But she'd seen the test result before she passed out. She was pregnant. It was already bad enough she hadn't started taking prenatals yet. Now she'd been drugged and chained up. Whoever took her wasn't just torturing her, they were torturing her baby. And she'd give them hell for it.

…

"How's Rhodey doing?" Natasha asked, cautiously approaching Tony. She knew he'd already be upset with her, even without the news she was bringing. She hadn't been able to track Anna down. The trail had ended in the bathroom. Whoever took her knew what they were doing. Natasha barely had enough time to escape the premises before Ross and his men showed up. After letting Steve and Barnes go, Natasha knew she would be rounded up with the rest of the Avengers who fought with Steve. She couldn't let that happen. Not while Anna was still MIA.

"The doctor said he shattered L4 through S1. Extreme laceration of the spinal cord. Probably looking at some form of paralysis. I'd hoped Anna would be here to help him out, but it seems like she's chosen to ride off with Tin Man. Doesn't shock me as much as you letting them go," Tony snapped back, crossing his arms as he stared out over the grounds of the Avengers base. He was trying hard not to show how upset he was that Anna Banana had chosen Tin Man over him: her brother, her family, her blood.

"Anna's not with Barnes," Natasha responded, purposefully keeping her tone calm. It was always better to stay level headed in situations of kidnapping. "She was waiting out the battle in the airport bathroom, but when I got there, she was gone. Someone took her Tony. I don't know who and I don't know where they took her."

"Are you sure she's not with Tin Man?" Tony countered, his heartrate skyrocketing. Considering the alternative, he really, really wanted her to be on the plane with Tin Man.

"There was a chloroform soaked rag on the floor. She didn't go willingly," Natasha added, hoping Tony's denial wouldn't last too long. She didn't know how long Anna had. To Natasha's surprise, Tony didn't say another word. He simply turned away from the window and started walking away.

"Where are you going?" Natasha called out, chasing after him.

"To find out where Tin Man and Cap went. I don't care what they did, I need them to help find my sister," Tony called back as he made his way to the helicopter pad. Natasha halted in her efforts to catch up for a second, taken by surprised at what she had originally thought was impossible. Tony was setting aside his ego for the first time since she'd met him.

"You can't come with me Romanoff," Tony added once Natasha caught up. "T'challa told Ross what you did. If he finds you, you'll be locked up with the rest of them, and then you'll be no use to me."

"Do you really think it's a good idea for you to find Barnes and be the one to tell him Anna's missing…again?" Barnes hadn't taken the news too well the first time, and he had Hydra agents to take his anger and frustration out on. Natasha couldn't help but think it would turn into a kill the messenger situation, and Tony already frustrated Barnes. The news would be better coming from her. At least she could deflect and dodge Barnes' hits without blasting him with fire thrusters.

"Yes. Because we once again lost the one person we both care most about in the world. If that's not the definition of a common goal, I don't know what is," Tony retorted, starting up the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator.

Tony left Natasha standing on the helipad after inputting the coordinates for the underwater prison Ross was currently holding Cap's allies in. It was a bit extreme in his opinion, but Tony didn't get a say in what Ross did to the others.

He'd barely gotten the chopper in the air before receiving an alert, a priority upload from Berlin police. He almost ignored it. Anna was more important than whatever the Berlin Police were up to. But it was a long flight, and he needed something to distract him from his rising anxiety.

"Son of a Bitch," Tony muttered after Friday went through the file for him. Cap was right. Tin Man was telling the truth.

…

The sound of a door slamming shut startled Anna awake. She hadn't even realized she could fall asleep chained to a wall, unable to sit or lay down, but she had. It was still impossibly dark in the room. She couldn't see ten inches in front of her face. She wasn't afraid of the dark though. Anna was more afraid of who, or what, the dark was hiding.

"How far along are you?" The gruff voice sent a shiver down Anna's spine and she could feel herself break out into a cold sweat. Rumlow had found her.

"I don't know," Anna croaked out, uncertain how to precede with the situation. The fact that Rumlow knew she was pregnant was bad. Monumentally bad.

"It would have been perfect, you know," Rumlow's voice was a lot closer than before and it had Anna pressing her back against the wall behind her. "With the device, we could have had a fresh start. Now he's ruined you."

Anna's heart lurched when Rumlow's hand reached out from the dark and gripped her jaw in a painful vice. He was close enough now that she could barely make out his face, and the wild look in his eyes was even more frightening than she'd imagined. He'd completely lost it. Unhinged didn't even begin to describe Rumlow.

"Then why take me?" Anna spat out, her words stilted as Rumlow still had a harsh grip on her face. It made no sense. If he thought she was broken because she was pregnant, why did he take her?

"Because it's not too late to fix what he broke. And I want to make the asset feel every bit of pain he and Cap have physically caused me. He doesn't have many weaknesses, but he does have one. You." Anna barely had time to register what he was saying before he pressed his lips roughly against hers. When he pulled back he also removed his hand from her face. Feeling as if she was going to throw up, Anna wanted nothing more than to curl up in a ball to protect herself, and the baby growing inside her, from Rumlow. She didn't know exactly what he meant by 'fixing' what James had 'broken' but she had a sinking feeling it had to do with her pregnancy.

…

"You're the good cop now?" Sam snapped, finally turning to look at Tony. Just because he asked about Rhodes didn't mean he was sympathetic to Tony or felt any less hostility toward him than Clint and the bug guy had shown him.

"I'm just the guy that needs to know where Steve and Tin Man went," Tony replied honestly, knowing the quicker he got the information, the sooner he could start tracking Anna.

"Well you better go get a bad cop. Because you're gonna have to go Mark Fuhrman on my ass to get information out of me," Sam ground out, stepping towards the bars separating him from Tony.

"Well, I just knocked the A out of their AV," Tony stated after fiddling with his fancy watch. "We've got about 30 seconds before they realize it's not their equipment. Just look."

"That was the man who was supposed to interrogate Tin Man," Tony added, pulling up the files on his watch. "Clearly, I made a mistake. Sam, I was wrong."

"That's a first," Sam spat back, arms still crossed. He knew it was big for Tony to admit he was wrong, but it just meant all of it could have been avoided.

"Sam, someone took Anna," Tony's voice cracked as he admitted he didn't know where his baby sister was for the third time since the helicarriers in DC.

"What?" Sam let his arms fall to his sides at Tony's words. The last he knew Anna was hiding away, safe, in the airport bathroom. He figured she'd gone with Tony once the battle died out.

"I need Steve and Barnes help finding her. Tin Man might have a better idea of who might have taken her and where since they were on the run together up until three days ago." Even if Tin Man couldn't deduce where Anna was, he deserved to know she was missing, and the chance to help find her.

"I'll tell you, but you have to go alone and as a friend," Sam finally relented. Steve would understand him telling Tony under the circumstances.

…

"She'll be fine. Wanda will take care of her," Steve spoke up, noticing the concerned crease in Bucky's forehead.

"She wanted me to leave with her," James murmured after a few moments of silence, glancing down at his hands. "Back in Romania, after I saw my face in the papers. But I went back for our bag. I should have listened to her." If he'd left with Anya when she wanted him to, none of this would have happened. The fake psychiatrist wouldn't know the location of the other Winter Soldiers and James would still be living a life of relative normalcy with Anya.

"Don't do that," Steve responded softly. "Don't play 'what if.' You can't change what's happened, you just need to work with the hand you have and make it work. Trust me, you'll drive yourself mad if you replay all the ways things could have gone differently." Steve knew first-hand that wallowing in choices or actions in the past wasn't productive in the least.

After Bucky fell from the train, after waking up in a new century, after finding out Bucky had survived the fall, he'd spent hours analyzing what he could have done different. And it hadn't done anything but cause him heartache and sleepless nights.

"We can't let this guy release the Soldiers," James reiterated, choosing to focus on their current mission. Steve was right, he couldn't change the past. He could only work to make sure the future didn't go to hell.

"We won't," Steve insisted, as he started their descent. The snowy terrain looming closer reminded him of the last time he'd landed a plane, crashing it into icy waters. His grip tightened on the controls as they hovered lower, his shoulders tensing as they thudded to a halt. It wasn't the smoothest landing, but at least the plane had survived it with him that time.

James went for Natasha's weapon stash once they landed, knowing he'd find a wide array of guns to choose from. Pulling a sniper rifle from the set after surveying the choices, James checked that it was fully loaded before following Steve towards the entrance to the mountain base. His stomach flipped when he noticed the doors were already ajar.

"He couldn't have been here more than an hour," Steve commented, trying to reassure them both.

"Long enough to wake them," James muttered, tightening his grip on the rifle and following Steve in.

The long elevator ride down was torture. James felt as if the cage walls were closing in around him the further they descended. Memories of his time there had his hands twitching, and knowing what could be waiting for them at the bottom had his heart pounding against his ribs. Even with Steve, James wasn't sure they could beat the five other soldiers and the psychiatrist.

Too soon the cart thudded to a stop. With a nod at Steve, the cage door was slid up and James stalked his way out first, bringing the scope of his gun to his eye. He needed to be able to shoot at a second's notice. James took his time clearing each turn before they pressed on. The sound of creaking metal had James spinning on his heel, Steve kneeling below him with his shield up. This was it.

"Ready?" Steve asked his voice just above a whisper. Even though he knew the soldiers would hear him no matter how low he spoke, he couldn't help but try and keep as quiet as possible.

"Yeah," James responded, seeing the hallway before them through the rifle's scope. He wasn't at all prepared for Tony to come through the metal doors, fully decked out in his Iron Man suit.

"You seem a little defensive," Tony broke the silence, pushing a button so his helmet retreated back into the suit as he made his way towards Tin Man and Steve.

"It's been a long day," Steve countered, easing his way towards Tony. James stayed where he was on the steps, covering Steve. It was always better to keep higher ground as a sniper.

"At ease soldier, I'm not currently after you," Tony called up to Tin Man.

"Then why are you here?" Steve asked, keeping his guard up. Not even three hours ago Tony had been fighting like hell against them.

"You're story might not be as crazy as it seemed," Tony retorted, trying to keep the conversation light. "And after I help you, I need some help from you two."

Tony could have told them both right then. He'd wanted to. Time was ticking by and every second meant a second closer to losing Anna. But he also knew if they left now, they'd lose the doctor and the proof they needed to clear Tin Man. Not to mention a group of Super Soldier with the stealth skills of Natasha and Tin Man and without the morals of Cap would be let loose on the world. One problem at a time, and they currently knew the location of their first one.

Lowering his gun once James was sure Tony was telling the truth, he followed behind Steve and Tony as they made their way deeper into the facility. They were nearing the room where James had been kept in cryofreeze, as well as the other soldiers. Knowing it was possible the soldiers were lying in wait for them there, James kept up a steady scan of the area so as not to be taken off guard.

"We've got heat signatures," Tony alerted as they made their way into a larger room.

"How many?" Steve asked, sounding a bit apprehensive. Tony couldn't blame him. He didn't really relish taking on an army of assassins with super strength and no qualms of killing anyone in their path.

"Uh…one," Tony confirmed as he swept the room twice. He didn't want to miss any that may be hiding. He didn't know how long it would take a human to return to normal body temperature after being awakened from cryofreeze. As they walked deeper into the room, lights came on inside each of the five tubes that surrounded them. It had all three of them pausing mid stride.

"If it's any comfort, they died in their sleep," Zemo's voice echoed around them, broadcasted through speakers. "Did you really think I wanted more of you?"

"What the hell," James muttered, shifting his grip on the rifle as he took in the bullet hole through the forehead of the closest soldier. Why would he kill them when he could have used them?

"I'm grateful to them though," Zemo continued, answering James' silent question. "They brought you here."

Another light turned on, that time illuminating Zemo standing just behind a plate of glass. Reacting more on instinct than anything else, Steve flung his shield at the small panel of glass, only to have it return to him without doing any damage.

"Please Captain. The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the launch blast of UR-100 rockets," Zemo chided, a little amused that he'd even tried to break through it.

"I'm betting I could beat that," Tony called out, stepping closer and analyzing the wall before them for any weaknesses.

"Oh, I'm sure you could, Mr. Stark. Given time. But then you'd never know why you came," Zemo added, knowing Stark wouldn't spend his energy trying to get to him after seeing the video.

"You killed innocent people in Vienna just to bring us here?" Steve asked, stepping closer to the glass that Zemo hid behind.

"I've thought about nothing else for over a year," Zemo retorted honestly. "I studied you. I followed you. But now that you're standing here, I just realized. There's a bit of green in the blue of your eyes. It's nice to find a flaw."

"You're Sokovian. Is that what this is about?" Steve pressed, trying to keep Zemo on track. He was sounding crazier with every word.

"Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to hell. No. I'm here because I made a promise." He'd made a promise to his little boy that he'd been forced to break, thanks to the Captain and the Avengers. He was going to make sure they never got the chance to do to someone else what they did to him.

"You lost someone," Steve whispered, noticing the tears glistening in Zemo's eyes. Steve had felt enough heartbreak from losing people he loved to notice it in someone else.

"I lost everyone. And so will you. An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one which crumbles from within? That's dead. Forever." The video monitor beside them clicked on, showing rotating black and white images of the inside of a building.

"I know that building," Tony muttered as the camera switched to an external view of the building.

"It was a science company in Bulgaria working for Hydra," James responded, recognizing the building as well. It seemed like forever ago when he'd set off on his revenge mission.

"Why would a Hydra science building be familiar…oh," Tony whispered when he noticed Pepper's ponytail. She was clad in a business suit and making her way across the lobby. His heart clenched as he realized there was only one time Pepper had visited Bulgaria on business.

The video kept flickering through different hallways, obviously a feed from a security camera. It showed Tin Man exiting a hallway and then leaving through the front lobby before the camera shook from the explosion and the feed went dead. It wasn't hard for Tony to put two and two together. Tin Man had set off the explosion that had almost killed Pepper. Hands gripping into fists, Tony turned towards Tin Man only to find his jaw slacked open and his face pale.

"You didn't know?" Tony spat out, still unsure what to do with all the emotions swirling under the surface.

"If I had, I never would have done it," James murmured, his eyes glued to the screen even though all he could see now was snowy static. "Is she…" James hesitated, closing his eyes and breathing deep through his nose. He didn't know if he could live with himself if he'd killed Pepper while in full control of his mind and body.

"She's in critical condition, in a medical induced coma, but she's alive," Tony choked out, hating whenever he had to tell anyone the news. He reminded himself that there was nothing he could do for Pepper at the moment. At least he knew where she was.

Zemo's plan was starting to reveal itself. His admittance that he'd lured them there. The movie he'd played for them. Wanting an 'empire' to crumple from within. He'd been toying with them, playing htem against one another in order to rip them apart. Zemo thought Tony would rise to the bait, and maybe he would have a few hours ago. But now he knew Tin Man hadn't set the bomb off in Vienna. Tin Man hadn't reverted back to his old ways.

A few hours ago Anna wasn't missing. Now all Tony cared about was finding her. Zemo posed no threat to them. He'd already killed the super soldiers so they weren't a threat. Voice recordings from his suit would provide the confession Zemo had given to Steve as proof to Ross that Tin Man hadn't been the one responsible for Vienna. Now all he cared about was finding his sister. But before he could tell Tin Man what Natasha had informed him, Zemo interrupted once again.

"I can see I'm going to have to go to plan B," Zemo's monotone voice echoed around the bunker when, disappointingly, Stark hadn't reacted the way he'd hoped to the video.

Tony's attention turned back to the TV when the black and white static disappeared and a feed that was obviously from a night vision camera came into focus. It took Tony a minute to figure out what he was looking at. When he finally did, his shoulders tensed as his eyes remained glued to the person on the screen.

"Anya," James murmured, his lungs constricting as he realized it was Anya in the video.

* * *

 _A/N: Hello everyone! How've you been? I took a mini vacation from all things writing when my husband and I finally got to go on our honeymoon to Universal Studios Florida and Disney World for a week and a half. It was amazing and magical and I already want to go back. Anyways, I'm back in the swing of things now. Hope you liked this chapter :) I have a solid idea for a Clint/OC story that doesn't take place in this version of MCU that I've created and have had fun playing around with it, but I won't be posting anything just yet because of this beauty and Beneath your Beautiful. Also, I've been seeing pinterest posts placing marvel characters in Hogwarts houses, and it got me thinking: What Hogwarts house would you put Anna in? I'd love to know. I'd also like to know what houses you put the other Avengers in._

 _Now onto guest review responses:_

 _Janyan aw: Thanks for responding to my question from the last author's note! I agree, it'd be hard for me to put this story on 'hiatus' just because I was waiting for another marvel movie with Bucky to come out. Because of the overwhelming response, I will be continuing on my own plot line. I'm glad you enjoy the story so much to reread it and that you like the little bit of James being called Anya when it's his pov. I agree, it makes pov changes flow easier. Hope you liked this update!_

 _Aubri: haha so relieved you're so happy Anna is preggers._

 _Guest who said "yasss a new plot would be good" thanks for your faith in my writing and for voting to allow my creativity to flow. Hope you like the changes made thus far._

 _To the guest you said "what the actual hell" and wanted to know why I would do this: it's all part of the plot…sorry. I understand your anxiety over Anna and the baby. Sorry if I caused more of it with this chapter._

 _Jo: So glad you 'adored' it and are all on board for me to take the plot into my own hands._

 _Pam: Sorry for all the cliffhangers. At least you know there's gonna be another chapter instead of me just ending the story on one. I'm honored that this is your favorite fanfic, seriously it means a lot. I will be branching out with my own plot line now. Hopefully it doesn't completely suck __

 _To the guest who said to make my own plot and considers my story way better than the movie: WOW. Thank you so much for that prestigious compliment. You'll be happy to know I will be continuing with my own plot. Hopefully it still makes my story better than the movie._

 _Omoidashu: haha your comment on Rumlow was hilarious. It had me chuckling. Sorry to put a damper on your love for Rumlow. And to make you nervous for the next chapter._

 _To the guest who finally got the courage up to write a review: thank you for writing one. I love reviews and interacting with my readers. I'm so happy you're loving the books and don't worry, I won't make you wait years for an update. I will continue to write my own plot. Thanks again for leaving a review!_

 _Just a fan: :D that's what your review had me doing. Smiling really big. I'm so pleased you think so highly of my writing and my characters. Sorry it took so long to update, but I hope it was worth the wait._

 _Kam: Your song review was life. I saw it when I got back from Disney and it just went so well with where I had just been. AHHH! I'm just in love with it. Glad I could be the fanfic you've been searching your whole life for and I hope it never disappoints you like Hans. I'm also ecstatic that you read and like Beneath your Beautiful as well._

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	32. Chapter 32

**Relentless Chapter 32**

 **" _I could win any war. I could face any storm. Yeah I could conquer the world, with just one hand. As long as you're holding the other." Lauren Alaina acoustic from the movie Road Less Traveled._**

* * *

Anna tried everything she could think of to break out of the handcuffs. Rumlow must have learned his lesson from the last time he handcuffed her. It was much easier to escape with your hands in front of you. Anna attempted slipping them off, maneuvering them to try and get enough leverage to snap the chain, even the ever pathetic and useless strategy of pulling on them as hard as she could. All she got from her efforts was raw, bleeding wrists and sore arms.

Eventually she gave up trying. Feeling the stinging sensation behind her eyes that always preceded tears, Anna fought them as long as she could. But no amount of blinking them back kept them from falling and they traced a warm trail down her cheeks. She could taste their saltiness as they hit her lips, unable to wipe them away. Pain seared through her wrists and she just wanted to scream in frustration. No one knew where she was. No one knew who had taken her. No one knew where to look for her. She knew that wouldn't stop her brother and James from trying. But not even James would find her in time. She didn't have days, she might not even have hours. If she was going to get out of this without losing the baby, she would have to do it alone.

…

"I never should have left her alone," James muttered, his jaw tensing. He'd thought the only threat to Anya at the airport had been the fight getting too close to her. She shouldn't have been a target of the psychologist. She was only a target because of her connections with Steve, Tony, the Avengers…him.

"This isn't your fault," Steve murmured, clasping his hand on Bucky's shoulder.

"No, it's Zemo's," Tony spat out. "Where did you take my sister?!" He shouted, turning towards the small viewpoint window only to find it empty.

"Damn it," Tony muttered before the front of his helmet slid over his face. He needed to find Zemo before he left the compound. He was the only one who knew where Anna was.

James followed Tony, slamming his fist on the button that opened the facility to the surface and climbing up towards the surface using the metal grates that lined the walls. When Tony caught up to Zemo, they'd need to have the plane ready. Because no matter what it took, Zemo would tell them where Anya was, and James wanted to make sure they could go after her as soon as they got her location. Anya was strong, she could hold on until he got there. She had to.

Tony just broke the surface into the Artic air when the sound of a gun firing reverberated off the mountains. No, the bastard didn't just kill himself, didn't just take the cowards way out just to make sure Tony didn't find Anna. Increasing the power to his thrusters, Tony raced around the mountain, searching for any sign of life and praying he wouldn't find death instead. What he found wasn't what Tony was expecting at all.

"T'Challa," Tony greeted as he landed in the snow by him and Zemo. T'Challa had the gun in his hand, while Zemo sat hunched against a nearby rock. "Thank you for stopping him."

"He did not deserve an easy death," T'Challa responded.

"Trust me, his life will be anything but easy once Tin Man gets a hold of him," Tony retorted, pulling Zemo closer to him by the collar of his shirt. "Taking Anna Banana was your biggest mistake."

"Losing loved ones hurts, doesn't it," Zemo responded with a satisfied smile. It had Tony jerking him around, pinning his hands behind his back and herding him towards the plane Cap had flown there.

"He took your sister?" T'Challa asked as he fell in step beside Tony. He remembered the name. It belonged to the tiny brunette that Romanoff had drugged back in Germany.

"He had someone drug her and take her, yes," Tony huffed as he pushed Zemo a little harder than necessary so he'd move up the plane's drop hatch faster.

"It is interesting you find it wrong when someone else does it," T'Challa murmured under his breath, causing Tony to send him a sharp look. Tony never actually told Natasha to drug Anna and get her back to Avenger's headquarters. He only told her to keep her safe. Which she had, in her own Romanoff way. But before Tony could mention any of that, Tin Man came thundering into the plane.

"Where is she?" James demanded, his metal fist griping Zemo by the jaw, ripping him from Tony's grasp and lifting him inches off the ground. Enough to hurt, but not do serious damage to his neck, mouth or throat. He could still talk.

"I don't know," Zemo responded, earning him a punch to his left eye from James' other hand.

"Where is she?" James repeated, his voice cold and steely as his left hand twitched against Zemo's jaw.

"I don't know. The only person who knows her location is the one who took her," Zemo explained, a smug smile spreading across his face. He hadn't wanted to know where the girl was taken for this very reason. To prevent the Winter Soldier from torturing it out of him.

"Who took her?" James asked, resisting the urge to smash the self-satisfied smile off Zemo's face. He had no patience for whatever games Zemo wanted to play. To his infuriation, James' question only had Zemo's smile widening.

"Crossbones," Zemo retorted with barely masked glee. "Though I believe you all know him by a different name. Brock Rumlow."

James body shook at Zemo's response, his breaths heavier as he pressed Zemo's back against the side of the plane hard enough to cause the floor beneath him to shake. Hundreds of ways to hurt the man before him without killing him flitted through James' mind.

"You think you wanted to die before. I'm going to make death a longing dream you pray will become reality," James bit out. Using his right hand, James yanked Zemo's arm back and out, dislocating his shoulder with a pop that had Zemo screaming out. Removing his grip until Zemo fell to the floor, James walked away towards the pilot seat. He wanted to wait a few minutes before popping Zemo's arm back in place. It'd give him time for the current pain to fade just to have it reignited at the joint grinding back in place.

"What are you thinking?" Steve asked as he took the seat beside Bucky. His shoulders were tensed and Steve knew he was one comment away from losing it completely.

"Rumlow could have taken her anywhere. I don't know how to find her," James admitted, running his hand through his hair.

"I can have some of my people look into her disappearance," T'Challa offered, coming to stand behind the two. He felt he owed Barnes a debt, seeing as he was innocent and T'Challa had tried to kill him. Besides, the girl was an innocent. He couldn't, in good conscious, leave her at the hands of the enemy.

"I'll have Friday run logistical analysis of the airport to determine the most likely escape routes that avoid the runway where our fight was and the terminals the CIA entered through," Tony added, already punching in the orders as he spoke. Hacking the security feed hadn't helped him before. Not after Parker managed to crash into or destroy in some way most of the cameras on that side of the terminal. Tracking escape routes wasn't the fastest or most reliant method of finding Anna, but seeing as Zemo didn't know her location, it was one of the few options they had.

"Crossbones is insane. If you do find her, she will never be the same. If she even survives him," Zemo grunted, heaving unsteady breaths through the pain radiating from his shoulder. Steve let out a long sigh in the seconds of silence after Zemo spoke. Bucky's shoulders released the tension they'd held, but Steve knew that wasn't a good thing in that instance.

Rising slowly from his seat, James stalked back towards Zemo. Taking a knee before him, James brought his face inches from Zemo, maintaining eye contact. In one swift movement, he simultaneously shoved Zemo's arm back into place and broke his middle finger. To James' satisfaction, Zemo's face crumpled, his forehead crinkling at the pain.

"She's survived him before," James murmured in an eerily calm voice. "You have no idea how strong and stubborn she is. You didn't put a damsel in distress. You put a severely pissed off woman in the hands of the man she is most pissed off at."

…

The next time the door opened, Anna didn't react. Fighting back while chained to the wall wouldn't do her any good, the repercussions would only increase the chance of injury to herself or the baby. Instead she remained still, leaning her had back against the cool stone wall behind her. Her heart was hammering against her ribs, but a hand touching her hip before reaching behind her had its drum like beat stuttering. Instinctively she pulled back from the touch as far as her binds would let her, causing the metal to dig into her raw wrists.

"I see you fought your binds," Rumlow muttered at Anna's hiss of pain. "I'm guessing you realized you're not getting out of those cuffs until I let you out."

Anna didn't respond. Instead she waited in silence to see what he'd come there for. To her surprise, she heard the click of a lock as he release her from the wall. Testing her range of motion as subtly as she could, she found her hands still bound together. There must have been a third set chaining her to the wall.

"Where are we going?" Anna croaked out as Rumlow began leading her towards the corner of the room where she knew the door was.

"I'm getting that thing out of you," Rumllow grunted, his grip tightening on her arm.

Anna's hands tightened into fists as a chill ran down her spine at his words, equal parts terrified and angry. The fact that he was crazy and delusional enough to think she'd even look at him if he violated her like he planned and killed her baby pissed her off enough she wanted to hit something. The fact that he was actually going to do something to hurt her baby while she still hadn't figured out an escape plan scared her more than she'd admit.

Desperate to buy herself more time, Anna dug her feet into the ground in an effort to slow Rumlow down. All it really did was piss him off and make his harsh grip on her arm tighten even more. Thrusting open the door and forcing Anna through it, Anna's struggles halted as she was momentarily blinded by the light of the room they entered. Her eyes had grown accustomed to the dark, and moving from practically no light into what felt like the center of the sun to her retina's, had her squeezing her eyes shut. Although it helped ease the sharp pain in her head, Anna knew she needed to grow accustomed to the change in light. Walking around blind to her surroundings wouldn't help her.

Inhaling a shaky breath, Anna forced her eyes open, squinting against the light but refusing to close her eyes again. After a minute she was able to make out the outline of the hallway they were walking down. Another few seconds and she could see more details. The floors were concrete, and the walls were stone. Judging by the moss growing on some of the stones and the musty smell of moisture in the air, they were either underground or somewhere where it rained a lot.

Anna didn't make her move until her eyes had fully adjusted to the change in lighting. At that point they'd made it out of the hallway to a larger room. Larger meant more space to put between her and Rumlow. It might be the best chance she had. Gathering her nerves, Anna slammed her foot back into Rumlow's leg and ended up hitting him in the knee with her left leg. Letting out a surprised grunt of pain, Rumlow's grip loosened on her arm enough for her to wrench herself out of his grasp. Turning to face him, Anna sent a swift kick to his groin with her right foot before he had a chance to recover from the first attack. That would keep him down for a little longer, but Anna's hands were still bound behind her. She needed them free, or at the very least in front of her if she had any hope of continuing to fight off Rumlow.

Rushing to make use of what time her kick to Rumlow's sweet spot had given her, Anna slid her hands down her back squatting a little as she worked them past her butt. Ignoring the slicing pain of the metal digging into her wrists at the movement, she fell to her butt on the floor, rolling onto her back and tucking her feet in as close to her chest as she could. It took two tries to get her feet through the circle of her arms, her shoulders protesting against the strain in her muscles. Once her arms were in front of her she rolled back onto her feet.

The heavy foot fall behind her alerted Anna that Rumlow had recovered enough to stand, although his breathing was still labored. Heart thudding in her chest, she surveyed her surroundings frantically, trying to find an exit. Instead she found a medical exam table. A tray beside it held an array of surgical instruments. God, what was Rumlow trying to do, carve the baby out of her? Obviously he hadn't consulted a doctor on how to perform an abortion.

"You little bitch," Rumlow grunted from behind her. Shaking herself out of her shock at the surgical prep that was meant for her, Anna made a rush towards the tray. There had to be something there she could use to defend herself.

Halfway to the tray, Rumlow caught Anna around the waist, his fingers digging into her sides. Twisting her body in his grasp, Anna swung her arms together in an attempt to slam the metal cuffs against his face. Before they could make contact, Rumlow released his hold on her waist in favor of saving his face.

"I don't have time for your pathetic attempt of an escape," Rumlow ground out as he gripped her wrists together. His mistake was keeping her hands too close to his face.

"It's only an attempt if it doesn't work," Anna bit back before lunging her body closer and jamming her thumbs into his eyes. Wincing at the squishy sensation, Anna was relieved when Rumlow once again released his grip on her so she could pull her hands away.

Grabbing the longest, sharpest item on the tray, Anna gripped the scissors as best she could in her hands. There were only a few places on the human body the scissors could puncture and hit something important. Lungs and heart were too risky for the range of moment Anna had. She'd more than likely hit a rib which wouldn't stop Rumlow. She was too short to get a good angle at his ear or neck, and the coarse material of his pants would slow the tip of the scissors down too much and prevent it from reaching the femoral artery. That left her with the kidneys and the abdominal aorta. Both would cause unconsciousness in seconds and death in less than a minute.

"You shouldn't have done that," Rumlow spat out as he stumbled his way closer to Anna. It didn't take long to realize she'd blurred his vision. He held his hands in front of him to aid him, meaning his depth perception was off. In a split second decision, Anna adjusted the grip on the scissors once more just as Rumlow reached her.

"You had your fun. Now that thing is going to be removed and I'm beginning to think I won't be using anesthesia," Rumlow muttered, gripping Anna's sides tight enough to bruise once he finally got his hands on her again. Instead of questioning why she didn't keep running he jerked her closer to him, emitting a sound between a grunt and a gasp as something sharp stabbed him in the stomach. Anna had used his own strength to have him impale himself on the scissors.

As soon as Rumlow's body started slackening, Anna wrenched herself back, pulling the scissors with her. Blood started spraying from the wound as soon as the scissors left the skin, spattering her shirt and arms before she'd backed far enough away. It took Anna a few seconds to realize what she'd done. Rumlow, if not already dead, would certainly be there shortly with all the blood pooling on the floor. Though it was her intention, planning it and having actually done it were two very different things. She'd just killed someone, even if he was a creepy, psychotic stalker. He had still been human. She'd taken a vow as a doctor to do no harm. Now she'd gone way past the point of just harming.

Before she could stop it, not that she was capable of stopping involuntary bodily reactions, Anna found herself retching. Turning away from Rumlow's body, she collapsed to her knees on the floor as she threw up. It was mostly water, but it still tasted just as acrid. Moving her arms up, she managed to wipe her mouth off before awkwardly easing herself back onto her feet. She needed to get out of there.

The hallways all looked identical as Anna made her way down them. She had no idea which way she'd come from originally and no way of marking the ones she'd already been down. Eventually she stumbled across a metal latter, literally. She bumped into it thinking its little alcove was another hallway. Tilting her head back the ladder disappeared into darkness before she saw the end, but it was the first thing she'd come across that might be an exit. Reaching her hands up, she gripped the highest bar she could reach before stepping onto one of the lower rungs.

It was slow going as she climbed up, inching rung by rung thanks to her bound hands. Once she got above the alcove door the walls seemed to close in around her. At least if she started to fall she could possible stretch out and stop her momentum before she started plummeting to her death. When Anna finally reached the end of the ladder it was to find a metal covering that reminded her of a manhole cover. Rising closer to the lid, Anna braced her feet against the sides of the rung she stood on and placed her back against the cover. If she was going to lift that thing, she'd need to use her legs. No way would she have the upper body strength for it, even if her hands weren't cuffed and she could position them properly.

"Please don't be on a busy street," Anna murmured to herself.

Inhaling a shaky breath, Anna pushed her legs against the metal rung as hard as she could and dug her back into the metal cover. The cover felt like it weighed as much as she did, and she only managed to lift it a quarter of an inch before losing her hold on it. Taking one more step up on the ladder to get her closer, Anna repositioned herself again. Straining against the weight, she was able to raise it enough that light filtered through the cracks on the side. Rolling her body back inch by inch, Anna was able to slide the cover off just enough for fingers to slip in and finish pushing it along. The problem was, if she let go of the ladder in her position she'd fall. And if she removed her back from the lid, it would slip in and most likely knock her unconscious and she'd fall.

Legs and arms shaking, hands sweating, and her back aching, Anna blindly climbed yet another rung and repositioned her back closer to the small opening of the plate. Repeating the motion of rolling her body back, Anna was able to slide the cover over enough so that it was balanced, more on the street than over the hole. Tentatively she climbed a couple rings down until her back released its hold. Holding her breath as the plate rattled a little, Anna slumped against the ladder, her head pressed against one of the rusty rungs, when it didn't fall down on her. Climbing back up, Anna used her elbows to pull herself up, working her arms through the opening and gripping the pavement with her elbows and forearms until she could wriggle herself up and out of the hole.

Laying on her side on damp cobblestone, Anna felt her muscles give out. She couldn't move if she wanted to. Glancing around, she found herself in an alleyway. There was a fire escape across the way from her and a dumpster sat thirty feet down from her. At least she could relax, knowing a car wasn't likely to run her over there.

The longer she laid there, the more aware she became of her pain. It seemed there wasn't a single part of her body that didn't ache. Over exertion and Rumlow's man handling had done a number on her. When she felt her brain shutting down, her eyes fluttering shut, she tried her hardest to fight it. She needed to move, to get help, to seek medical attention. After everything she'd been through, all the physical and emotional stress, it wasn't good for the baby. But it seemed the harder she fought to keep her eyes open, the heavier her eyelids became. Her body and brain were tired of fighting and against her will they both temporarily shut down on her.

* * *

 _A/N: Hello! Everyone still with me? I know this isn't the longest I've taken to update, but I feel like it's still been forever. I've been exhausted come the weekends and I don't write the best when exhausted so I've waited for moments where I had the amount of energy I think this story deserves. And I know it's another cliffhanger. I know I'm a horrible person for doing that to you three chapters in a row. But I swear I didn't plan on doing it. It just happened. (I'm pretty much a pantser when it comes to writing. I don't have a long term outline, I just outline chapter by chapter. At the most I brainstorm two chapters ahead). Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this update and I'll try not to disappear for so long this time._

 _Onto Guest Review Responses:_

 _Macadoodle96: I'm responding to your review here because your personal message option is disabled. I'm sorry I left on a cliffy last time and this time. I just stop when it feels like a good point to stop and sometimes it's a cliffhanger and sometimes its not. I'll try to avoid doing it in the next chapter, I promise!_

 _Jo: Yes all of that really did happen. And so did what I just wrote. Sorry to cause you anxiety over it!_

 _Pam: I'm sorry to leave you with yet another cliffhanger :/ I'm glad you appreciate how I changed Zemo's approach in what he tried to use against the Avengers. I kinda felt it was a risk I was taking by changing it how I did. But it was a good risk to take apparently. And I always love hearing when I write things well so I'm glad you enjoyed how I handled it. Also, thank you for the well wishes for my honeymoon. I had so much fun. Disney with my best friend (husband) was the best trip ever. Thank you for the kind words and reassurances in your review. I'm glad at least one person believes my stories couldn't suck. Hope you enjoyed this update and that life is going good for you. :)_

 _Hannah: I hope those smiley faces stay in place after this chapter!_

 _Guest who wanted me to update fast: Sorry I made you wait so long. There was no way this update was in anyone's definition 'fast.'_

 _JoCa: Haha I loved your review. And because of it I know you'll enjoy this chapter. Anna goes badass warrior on his butt. Well, as badass warrior as someone can be who's never hurt anyone in their lives minus shooting Rollins in the knee back in Rehabilitate._

 _Kam: Pairing the word perfect with my writing just makes me smile. Thank you! I try hard to stay true to the marvel characters while also letting them evolve in my story so I'm glad you think I did this seamlessly with Tony's character. Hope you continue to enjoy the story!_

 _Guest who absolutely loves this story: Yay! I write for fun and it's so nice to know other people find enjoyment from something I have so much fun doing. Hope you continue to love it!_

 _Alex: Wow, speed binge reader! Thanks for spending your precious time reading my story! I'm floored to know I've written James and Anna well enough to capture your attention for both stories. Hopefully their relationship continues to keep you glued to the story!_

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	33. Chapter 33

Relentless Chapter 33

" **You were my courage. My sword and shield. Grace under pressure. My wall of steel. I was a stone, weighing us down. You were the angel, I chained to the ground…I'm missing the sound of your heart beating. Baby I'm in love with you." Shawn Hook sound of your heart**

The twelve men around the conference table looked as if they'd seen a ghost when Natasha burst into the room. The maid who had tried to make her wait in the entrance hall followed behind her, frantically apologizing in Russian for the disturbance.

"Natalia," the man situated at the head of the table greeted her, unable to keep the lilt of surprise from his voice.

"You've been ignoring me Nikolav," Natasha greeted as she continued past the table towards the big bear of a Russian. One of the men she passed reached under the table, pulling a gun from a holster. Without faltering, keeping her gaze on Nikolav, she twisted the man's wrist until it cracked, catching the gun with her free hand before it hit the floor.

"This is a private meeting," Nikolav retorted, his eyes scanning the table nervously. He didn't want the board members to try anything. None of them knew what she was capable of.

"I think you can make time for this," Natasha insisted as she clicked the magazine free from the gun she'd commandeered and let it fall to the ground. She had her own guns if she needed to fire off rounds. She was hoping it wouldn't come to that.

"I'm calling in that favor you owe me," Natasha continued when Nikolav didn't respond. Pulling her phone from her pocket, she slid the device in front of Nikolav. "I need everything you have on him," Natasha insisted before sliding her finger across the screen to another picture. "And where he took her."

"You would waste your favor on something as insignificant as a girl?" Nikolav mused, glancing up at Natalia. Natalia always did what was best for herself. It was something he'd always admired about her. That and her ability to kill a man without leaving any trace evidence. "You have grown sentimental during your time with the Americans and their Avengers."

"Where would he have taken her?" Natasha repeated, slowly emphasizing each word as she leaned closer to Nikolav, staring him down. There was a promise in her expression. If he wouldn't tell her, she'd make him. She knew Nikolav knew more than he admitted. There was a flash of recognition in his eyes when he'd seen both pictures. Always out to make some money, he'd have no qualms helping out a mercenary for the right price.

"I have underground facilities in Bosnia, Spain, and France that have fallen into disuse. If such a man required privacy I would point him in those directions. Give him his choice," Nikolav responded, careful in choosing his words. Natalia wasn't on his side of the law anymore. He wouldn't put it past her to try and use any information he gave her against him. "Hypothetically speaking, of course."

"Of course," Natasha spat back with a sickening smile before reaching for the back of Nikolav's head and smashing his face against the table. Favor or not, the sadistic bastard deserved it. For all he knew he had been helping a sex ring. "I'll need the coordinates for those facilities you hypothetically would have given him," Natasha whispered in his ear as she pulled his head back off the table.

…

"Romanoff, now's not really a good time," Tony answered her call, after ignoring the first three. Her call was interfering with Friday's report on the plausible escape routes.

"I have three possible coordinates for where Rumlow might have taken Anna," Natasha interrupted Tony's dismissal. There was no time for formalities when Rumlow could be doing God knew what to Anna. Especially if he'd seen the pregnancy test. "I'm already headed to the first set of coordinates. I'll leave it up to you and Barnes to figure out which ones each of you go to."

"How did you?" Tony started before a click ended the phone call and the coordinates came through.

...

Blinking her eyes open, a bright light blinded Anna. Trying to raise her hand to cover her eyes, there was a sharp tug against her skin, making her still all movement. Anxiety built in Anna's lungs as she tried to remember anything after passing out on the cobblestone street. Her mind was black nothingness. If she'd been conscious during any part after that, her mind had blocked it out.

Easing her eyes open again, Anna forced them to stay open even when they started watering. As the room started coming into view, Anna found the source of the light was a lamp above her head similar to those they had in the ICU back in DC.

Steady beeping came from the monitor beside Anna. By the sound of it her vitals were normal. Easing her head off the pillows she found bandages wrapped around her wrists and an IV in her right arm. Gripping the sides of the hospital bed she was in, Anna hoisted herself up just enough to reach out and pull the IV pole closer to her. Studying the bag connected to the drip going into her arm, Anna's shoulders sagged in relief when she saw it labeled as normal saline. It wouldn't have hurt the baby. Still, it was best not to take any chances. Pulling the tube from her vein, Anna let the tubing fall against the pole.

Turning the heart monitor off and pulling off the EKG leads, Anna inched her way towards the end of the bed. The floor was cold against her bare feet. Someone had changed her into a hospital gown, but the room she was in definitely wasn't in a hospital. Hospitals didn't have high end art work on the walls or windowless rooms. Moving around the room in search of something to help her defend herself should someone return to check on her, Anna found nothing other than the IV pole that could be used for self-defense. She just managed to get a good grip on the pole, after removing the bag from the hook, when the doorknob started to turn.

…

"It should be…right below us," Steve murmured as he double checked their coordinates.

"The entrance has to be around here somewhere," James responded, turning in place to survey the street they were on. They weren't in the heart of the city, but the few buildings that surrounded him looked legitimate at first glance. Until he took a closer look at the sign for the butchers, where he found a faded red star just like on his left arm: a communist star. Russian.

"A butcher's shop?" Steve asked dubiously as Bucky yanked open the door, breaking the lock.

"It's telling for what they used the place for," James muttered, his stomach twisting when he realized that could be the reason Rumlow had chosen to bring Anya there.

Splitting up, James took the back of the shop while Steve searched the front. They needed to find the access point to the underground facility. It'd have to be fairly well hidden to keep the location under wraps. Somewhere that would distract suspecting eyes should they come looking.

"The meat locker," James muttered to himself as he pulled open the freezer door. It stuck a little, but eventually yielded to his efforts. Stepping into the room, James felt his breath freeze in his lungs as he fought a flashback to his first experience with cryofreeze. There was a lot about the room, including the small, circular window on the freezer door, that reminded him of his first ice prison. The dead cow carcasses hanging from hooks and the roomier accommodations did not.

Maneuvering around the frozen slabs of hanging meet, James' eyes scanned the wall and the floor for any signs of a trap door. It was in the back corner, when his boot hit a hollow part of the floor, that James paused. Pushing aside the boxes that lay over half of the floor on that side, James found a small silver latch. Using his metal arm, James ripped the trap door free from the floor, splintering some of the wood and revealing an old stone stairwell that disappeared into darkness.

"You had to break the door, didn't you," Steve murmured after he came running at the loud crack. Thankfully they hadn't been discovered. Bucky just broke the trap door, so whoever owned the shop would know someone was there.

"It was locked," James defended, pulling Natasha's borrowed rifle from his back. "You got a light?"

"Right, I grabbed it right before packing our lunches when we headed off to Serbia," Steve retorted, his tone dry before he ducked back out to the front of the store. Pulling out drawers behind the counter and finding a disturbing amount of knives, he finally found one with a clunky flashlight.

James took the lead as the descended the stairs, rifle at the ready while Steve followed behind him, holding the flashlight up to illuminate their path. The temperature dropped the further they descended, and James could practically taste the moisture that clung to the walls. Anya's asthma wouldn't do well for long in such a damp environment.

When the finally hit solid ground the flashlight wasn't necessary. There were miner lights strung all along the hall they stood in. Following along the long hallway, James cleared every single nook and room they passed along their way, having to break down some of the doors to do so. He didn't care about alerting Rumlow of his presence. Let him know his death was drawing nearer. James wouldn't let him escape that time.

James and Steve didn't find anything of interest until the seventh room on the right. It was smaller than the others, and it was the first room that had heavy iron chains bolted to the wall. Motioning for the light, Steve flicked it on, bringing it closer to the chain. Drops of bright red were on the chain, as well as on the floor: blood. Someone had been held there, but whether it was recently and whether it was Anya, James couldn't know for certain. The probability that she had been there, bound to the wall tight enough to bleed, had James gripping his rifle tighter, his expression darkening.

"If we find Rumlow, he's mine," James insisted through gritted teeth before leading the way back out of the hole of a prison.

Stalking further down the hall, the next room they came across was brightly lit to the point it had James' squinting against the brightness. It set him even more on edge. Relying on his ears to alert him to an attack, all he heard was silence. Blinking away his temporary blindness, James eyes flew over the room to assess possible threats. Instantly, his eyes were drawn to Rumlow's body crumpled on the floor, a pool of blood at his side.

Keeping his gun at the ready, James moved closer until he was standing over Rumlows body. After nudging the body with his boot, James lowered his gun and moved his right hand down to feel for a pulse.

"He's dead," James murmured, his brow creasing as he rose back up to his full height. As much as he'd wanted to be the one to end Rumlow's life, slowly and painfully, James couldn't let disappointment settle in. There were still two very important answers he needed: where was Anya, and who had killed Rumlow.

"Death by scissors?" Steve commented as he noticed the bloody shears by Rumlow's feet. "That's unorthodox."

James had been so focused on Rumlow's body, he hadn't realized the murder weapon had been left behind. Taking a step back from the scene, James returned to his observation of the room that had been interrupted when he first noticed Rumlow's body. There was a table set up underneath a bright light, tools spread out on a tray beside it. Obviously that had been where the scissors had come from. The room itself was rather sterile considering they were underground, save for the puddle of watery vomit a foot from Rumlow's body. The blood had already started to mix with it, but there was no mistaking the smell.

"Anya," James breathed out when he made the connection, relieved that Rumlow hadn't had an accomplice that crossed him. An accomplice would be armed. The scissors were a weapon of convenience. And only someone unaccustomed to death would puke at the sight of a dead body.

"She was definitely here," Steve muttered, glancing once more at Rumlow's body. If Rumlow was there, Anna had been there too.

"No, Anya killed him," James elaborated, explaining his consensus as he pointed to the scissors and the vomit. Pride and guilt warred within him. He'd never wanted Anya to know what killing someone felt like. Every life taken took a toll on the psyche. Killing someone meant killing a piece of the person you used to be as well.

"I can't blame her. Looked like he had a twisted plan for her," Steve finally managed to choke out after realizing what James meant, nodding towards the operating table beside them.

"We need to find her. Who knows what state she's in, physically and mentally," James insisted, turning away from Rumlow's body and swallowing his fear. Anya had fought for her life with only a pair of scissors. She was a survivor. She would hold on until he found her.

The hallway splintered off into several pathways a half a mile down. Two of them dead ended with no signs of Anya. The third seemed to twist and turn for miles before they came across an alcove with a ladder. It was the first exit they'd found other than the way they'd come from. Glancing up, James saw a small circle of light. The cover was open. Someone had used it, and the chances it was Anya were pretty high. Hope started taking root at that thought. If Anya could manage to climb all the way up there and lift the cover, maybe she wasn't hurt bad. Slipping the rifle back over his shoulder and across his back, James began his ascent, the metal ladder groaning underneath his weight.

Pulling himself up through the manhole into a cobblestone alley, James' hand hit something soft inches from the opening. Turning towards the figure curled in on herself, James' breath caught in his lungs when he saw Anya. Hoisting himself the rest of the way out, James brought her head into his lap as he checked for a pulse. As soon as he felt the thrumming against his fingers, his head fell forward until his forehead was pressed against hers. Anya was alive.

"She needs a hospital," James insisted as Steve came to stand beside him. His eyes were assessing for any physical damage, drawn immediately to her chained wrists that were red and raw around the edges of the shackles.

"We step one foot inside a public hospital and we might as well be turning ourselves over to the CIA. We're on the run, remember. For all we know, they're after Anna as well," Steve commented placing a hand on James' shoulder.

"She needs medical attention," James countered, maneuvering out of his jacket. Anya didn't even stir as he lifted her body to wrap it around her shoulders. Scooping her up in his arms and pulling her closer, James pressed a lingering kiss against her head. "Who knows how long she's been unconscious. She could have a concussion or internal bleeding."

To hell with any repercussions it would cause him, James needed to get Anya to a doctor. He'd rather suffer in prison or a mental hospital than lose her. Either way he wouldn't be a free man.

"I have an idea. But we need to get her to the plane," Steve insisted pulling out his phone. Tony and T'Challa had gone to the coordinates in France. They needed to know they'd found Anna, and Steve was hoping T'Challa would agree to bringing Anna to Wakanda. Bucky was right, she needed medical attention.

…

James kept Anya tucked in his arms even after they landed. He knew it was the only option they had that didn't result in them being arrested, but he still had some difficulty trusting the people of the man who'd attempted to kill him.

"Wakanda welcomes you. I'm Dr. Akita Attah," Akita nodded her head in acknowledgement at the newcomers. The call from T'Challa had been unexpected. Last she'd heard, the man before her had killed their king. Now he was exonerated by T'Challa and Wakanda was harboring him and his friend.

"I have a room waiting for her," Akita continued, her gaze focusing on the girl wrapped in the protective hold of the man with the metal arm. When she motioned towards the stretcher, he pulled her even closer into his chest. Protective. And not so trusting. He was going to be difficult to handle.

"I'm not leaving her alone," James declared. Wherever Anya went, he went.

"You are if you want her treated," Akita countered, crossing her arms. "We don't know what kind of state she is in. Until I can assess her and make sure she is physically and mentally stable, it's best if she isn't overcrowded."

"Her mental state isn't going to fair well if she wakes up in an unfamiliar setting with unfamiliar people," James retorted, though he knew it was a losing battle. The woman before him was not going to back down, and the most important thing was to make sure Anya got the medical attention she needed.

"I want to see her as soon as she wakes up," James gave in, setting Anya down on the stretcher.

"She might feel more comfortable talking about what happened to her with another woman," Akita suggested. Most woman she'd treated who'd been chained up like the girl, had mental and physical scars from being sexually violated by the men that held them.

"Then let me talk with Anna," Natasha suggested, walking past Steve and Barnes until she stood before the doctor. She'd left Bosnia as soon as Steve informed her they were taking Anna to Wakanda. It took a little…convincing of T'Challa's head of security to let her in. The girl could fight.

"It might be…embarrassing for her to explain what happened to someone she knows. Should she have been violated," Akita pressed, knowing how ashamed all the women she'd treated had been when facing loved ones after such attacks.

"You think he raped her?" James raged, finally understanding what the doctor had been hinting at. Now that he knew, he couldn't get the image out of his head. It had his hands turning to fists. Steve stopped him before he could hit the wall, and without the physical release James anger only grew. It had him wishing he could bring Rumlow back to life just so he could kill him in the manner he deserved.

"There's no telling what he did to her," Akita murmured before wheeling Anna away.

...

As soon as the door opened, Anna was thrusting the IV pole towards the person walking through the door, ignoring the screaming pain in her arms and wrist. She'd gotten herself out of one prison, she was willing to do whatever it took to get herself out of there as well. To her surprise, the woman dodged the pole, turning to the side. Grabbing the end of the IV pole, she held on tight so Anna couldn't pull it from her grasp.

"Who are you?" Anna demanded, not giving up her grip on the pole. She wouldn't let the woman have her weapon to use against her.

"Akita, your doctor," she responded calmly, releasing her grip on the pole. "I'm not here to hurt you Anna. I'm here to help you."

"How do you know my name? Where am I?" Anna pressed, tightening her grip on the IV pole. Trusting anyone she didn't know right now would be a mistake.

"You're in Wakanda. Your…soldier brought you here. The one with the metal arm," Akita answered as she closed the door behind her. The last thing she needed was the soldier to know Anna was awake before Akita had a chance to talk with her.

"James is here?" Anna murmured, letting the bottom of the IV pole hit the ground. "No, if he that was true he'd be here, with me."

Anna raised the pole once more, knowing James wouldn't leave her side if he'd found her unconscious in that alley.

"We had to detain him and the others to keep them from interfering in your treatment," Akita huffed, pulling a tablet from her white coat and handing it to Anna. The security feed showed the four outsiders waiting in a conference room down the hall. Captain America sat with his head in his hands beside the metal armed soldier. Anna's soldier sat statue still, surveying the room and most likely searching for an exit. Tony Stark was pacing the length of the room running his mouth, and the red head was lounging in the far chair, seeming the most relaxed of them all.

"You really are a doctor?" Anna asked as she handed the tablet back. There was still some doubt in the back of her mind, but so far the woman had made no move to hurt her. Anna's gut was telling her she could trust Akita.

"Same as you," Akita responded, pocketing the tablet and motioning for Anna to return to her bed. "I ran some blood work while you were unconscious, but I'd still like to hear what happened from you."

"Is the baby okay?" Anna blurted out as she took a seat back on the hospital bed, her hands subconsciously moving to her stomach. If Akita had ran the routine blood tests done when a woman was held captive by a man, she'd know Anna was pregnant. Anna had already established that she was physically stable, but she had yet to know if something had gone wrong with the baby. If it had, she'd never forgive herself.

"The baby's fine. It's a survivor, just like you," Akita assured Anna. Closing her eyes, Anna let out a steadying breath. She'd been so worried the stress would have taken its toll on the baby. She'd seen miscarriages from less stressful situations.

"What happened Anna? I need to know everything, even if it's hard to vocalize," Akita pressed, pulling a seat up beside Anna's bed.

"Rumlow knocked me out with some chemical. When I woke up I was chained to a wall," Anna started, mechanically going through the story of her abduction with as much details as she could recall, which hadn't been much. She'd been unconscious for most of it.

"If it's alright with you, I'd like to do a physical exam. Just to make sure nothing happened while you were unconscious," Akita prompted once Anna finished her story. The gaps in her memory were troubling. Men who chained girls to walls normally didn't care if they were conscious while they violated them.

"There's no need. He didn't do anything. He wouldn't have," Anna insisted, bile rising in her throat at the idea of it. The thought of anyone forcing himself on her again had her palms sweating and brought back memories of Brent she'd tried hard to repress. It wasn't as though she thought Rumlow had been a stand-up guy and wouldn't take advantage of her. He would have, if she hadn't been pregnant. Anna was sure of that.

"Just because you're pregnant doesn't mean he wouldn't," Akita countered.

"He wanted to cut the baby out of me. He said it ruined me. He wouldn't have touched me until I was 'fixed,'" Anna spat out, her body convulsing at how close she'd been to having Rumlow cut her open, killing the baby and possibly her. No one would fault her for killing him first, right?

"I suppose that is something to be thankful for then. How long have you known?" Akita questioned, bringing the tablet back out to jot down some notes and drawing Anna's thoughts away from the murder she'd committed.

"It depends on how long I was unconscious. I found out seconds before I was taken," Anna shrugged. Time had no meaning when you were drugged then chained underground. Hours, days, weeks, Anna wouldn't have been able to tell. She knew it wasn't too long if she hadn't lost the baby due to malnutrition.

"So it wasn't planned?" Akita noted, her fingers flying against the tablet as she recorded Anna's answers.

"That doesn't make it bad," Anna defended, drawing her knees in on herself. Just because she hadn't intentionally gotten pregnant didn't mean it was a mistake or something she should be pitied for.

"I never said it did," Akita murmured, her eyes rising from her tablet to meet Anna's in a warm gaze. "I'm just trying to get all the facts straight. You'll need to be started on prenatal care as soon as possible. You have eight weeks to catch up on."

"Eight weeks," Anna murmured to herself. That was farther along than she thought. Rubbing her hands down her shins, her legs still hugged to her chest, Anna turned her attention back to Akita. "You didn't tell anyone. Did you?"

"I wasn't even sure if you knew, I wasn't about to tell your family until I spoke with you," Akita reassured her.

"Good," Anna breathed out. She didn't want everyone to find out from a stranger. James deserved to hear it from her.

"I think we're done for now. Would you like me to bring in your soldier?" Akita asked, clicking off the tablet and rising from her chair. Anna could only nod her head, her stomach clenching at the idea of seeing James and how he would take the news.

…

James rose from his seat as soon as the doctor entered the room. It had been hours since she'd taken Anya away. Every second that had ticked by he'd been convinced of the worst. It took every ounce of his self-control not to overpower the guards outside the door and find Anya. He hated being kept in the dark.

"She's awake and doing well, considering. I still don't know what the psychological toll on her will be, it'd be best if she consented to therapy. However, her physical health is stable. She can have visitors now," Akita spoke, her eyes on James when she mentioned visitors.

Off course, Tony took that to mean he could see his sister first. Crossing the room in four strides, the doctor barred his path before he could continue out of the room.

"Only one visitor at a time," Akita clarified as James moved past her from her other side.

"How come he gets to see her first?! I'm her brother!" Tony complained as Tin Man was led down the hall to the left.

"Tony, sit down. You'll have your turn to see her," Natasha called out, rising from her seat so she could lead Tony by the soldiers back towards the table. She knew why Anna needed to talk to Barnes first. The doctor had stopped Tony from going with Barnes for good reason. When Tony did find out, it was probably best Barnes wasn't in the near vicinity.

…

The guards retreated once they'd shown James to Anya's door. He didn't wait for them to clear the corner before pushing open the door. Anya sat at the head of the bed, her knees tucked into her as her left hand played with the star necklace he'd given her. Closing the door behind him, he took a step closer only to hesitate when Anya's eyes met his. She was scared, nervous. Slowing his approach, James stopped by the side of the bed, gauging Anya's reaction as he sat on the edge of the bed.

"I'm so sorry," James murmured, breaking the silence.

"It's not your fault," Anya insisted, moving her left hand out until it rested over James', lacing their fingers together.

"He didn't," James started, his hand tensing under Anya's and his gaze shifting to the wall as he tried to voice his question. Anya's fear, her legs pulled in as if to shield herself from the world, it had his mind moving towards the possible reasons she'd be so on edge.

"No," Anna rushed out, realizing that James thought the same as the doctor had. "He didn't touch me. Well, not like _that_ ," Anna reworded. Rumlow had man handled her, had even kissed her, but he hadn't done anything more.

"Then what's wrong?" James asked, moving his eyes to meet hers. Something had her nerves on edge. She didn't blame him for her abduction. And if it wasn't what Rumlow had done, James couldn't fathom what it was.

"I found out at the airport. I didn't want to tell you until I was certain," Anna stalled with a prelude. She wanted to make sure he knew she hadn't been hiding it from him. When James interrupted her rant, murmuring her name, Anna took a steadying breath. She just needed to tell him. Rip it off like a band aid.

"I'm pregnant," Anna whispered, her eyes flitting up to meet James, her heart stuck in her throat.

"Pregnant," James repeated, his eyes moving from Anya's stomach to the guarded expression on her face. Heart hammering in his chest, James reached out for her. Pulling Anya closer until his lips crashed down on hers, James smiled into the kiss.

"Pregnant," James murmured again, resting his forehead against Anya's, a silly smile on his lips as his right hand moved to her stomach. "We're going to have a baby."

"It's too early to feel the baby kicking," Anna giggled, beaming at the adorable look on James' face as his eyes shifted down to her stomach. Giddy relief had flooded her as soon as James' kissed her. They'd never talked about kids in all their musings of the future. She hadn't known what to expect when she told him. When his smile slowly faded, his eyes glinting with a cold expression she hadn't seen in a while, Anna's hand froze in the middle of running her fingers through James' hair.

"James, what's wrong," Anya murmured as he pulled away from her, his hands gripping the blankets on either side of Anya until he heard them tear. The table and tray of instruments where they found Rumlow's body hadn't made sense to him at the time. He'd been more concerned with finding Anya. Now it made sense. Rumlow wasn't going to torture Anya, he was going to kill James' child.

"The bastard," James muttered darkly, trying to reel in his anger, but failing. "He was going to remove the baby."

"But he didn't," Anna whispered, moving her hand up to James' cheek in an effort to bring him back from the edge. To remove the look of the Winter Soldier from his eyes. "I didn't let him."

Blinking past his anger at Anya's tone, James released his grip on the blankets and moved his hands to Anya's sides.

"You didn't do anything wrong. He was going to hurt you Anya. He was going to cut you apart and kill the baby. He's the murderer. You were only acting in self-defense," James reassured Anya, hating that Rumlow had still managed to scar her.

"I know," Anna responded solemnly. She'd kill Rumlow again too. He had been a sadistic, crazy, obsessed man. If someone didn't kill him, he never would have stopped. She had to repeat that every once in a while to reassure herself. Killing had been her only option.

"So, what do you think of the name Andrew," James mused, coming to sit beside Anya at the head of the bed and wrapping an arm around her. He recognized the look in her eyes. It reminded him of how he felt the first time he'd killed a man back in World War II. Even when it was a 'you or them' situation, it didn't make you feel any better after killing someone. The only way to make Anya feel better was to get her mind off of it.

"We don't know if it's a boy," Anna quipped, leaning her head against his shoulder. "What if it's a girl?"

"If she's anything like you I'm going to have my hands full and a line full of boys to intimidate," James retorted. Lord help him if it was a girl. He knew he'd be twisted around her little finger just like her mom.

* * *

 _A/N Hey everyone! I've honestly lost track of time so I don't remember how late this is, if at all. Anyways, no cliffhanger this time and it's a little longer than normal, so hope that makes up for the wait. Thanks again for all your support with this story and your wonderful reviews._ _ **If you are interested, I have started a blog on wordpress that deals with writing in general.**_ _My goal is to post a blog at least weekly dealing with some part of the writing process and maybe some personal life blogs splashed in. I'll give advice on how I've grown in my writing and I'll probably take questions and requests for different topics. It's just a place where you can learn a little more about writing (hopefully), and me. My first blog post is about tips on how to overcome writer's block. I'm also working on an original story. It's still in the editing stage before I query, but any information or news updates on that will be posted on there as well. I'm just trying to connect more with writers, and I know a lot of you write as well. If you're interested check it out and we can have more amazing conversations about the writing process. Fanfiction doesn't let me post links to websites here, but you can find me at just add a .com at the end. I'm lyricalheart on Instagram. If you have trouble finding the website, I have the link on my Instagram profile._

 _Now onto guest review responses_

Shipperwithdreams: You're personal messaging is disabled so I'm responding to you here. Your review had my smile and heart beaming. To hear you can't think of anyone else as perfect for Bucky/James than Anya is just about the best news ever lol. It means I've written their relationship effectively. Your review was too kind, and I thank you for leaving it. I hope you enjoyed the update!

To the guest cheering Anna on and who is glad Rumlow is dead: ME TOO! You're right, he wouldn't have stopped coming after her. Her only real escape of him was Rumlow's death. Thanks for taking the time to review!

Jo: yeah, James and Tony better step up their search game because Anna unconscious in an alley is not good. Especially not if the wrong person finds her first!

To the guest who said they hated Rumlow so much and are glad he's dead now: I agree, Rumlow had become certifiably insane in his time searching for Anna. I'm glad you enjoyed Rumlow dying. I hated killing off such a great villain, but it was time for a new villain to immerge. Thanks for leaving your note on the chapter.

Pam: Sorry my update schedules or so irregular. You wouldn't believe but when I started Rehabilitate in college I posted every day, sometimes twice a day. Oh college and so much free time how I miss you. You're the first person, I think, to mention how relieved they are that Tony didn't fight James and Steve. I'm right there with you. That fight scene killed me to watch. As for Anna's scene fighting and killing Rumlow, I worked really hard on researching ways she could possibly make it out of that situation especially given her size and lack of real fighting skills. I wanted it to seem not so far fetched that someone like her could manage to get free. I will never get tired of you complimenting my writing and the story. It's a nice confidence booster. I'm glad I'm keeping your attention with the story. Hope you liked the update!

To the guest who said James is going to be pissed if something happens to the baby: he would have gone ballistic should the baby have been hurt. Though a small, unhappy, reminder that Anna hasn't made it past the first trimester yet and miscarriages (thought they can happen at any part in the pregnancy) have a higher probability of happening up till week 13.

To the guest who cannot wait till the next chapter and wonders how James will react to Anna being prego: this chapter answered that question, and I hope it didn't disappoint. Sorry you'll have to wait to see Tony's reaction. It will come though. I'm glad you found the sequel and am flattered you fangirled over it. That makes my heart so happy. You're more than welcome for this story. Thank you for reading it and reviewing!

To the guest who still loves this story: I'm so glad! It's been a long time running so I'm glad it's kept your attention and affection.

To the guest who thought Rumlow would die in a great battle with James: I agree, it would have been fun to write James fighting and killing Rumlow brutally, but Anna needed to do it. She really couldn't wait for backup and vanquishing her own demon, though horrifying, will help her grow stronger.

Rach

xoxo


	34. Chapter 34

**Relentless Chapter 34**

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but your brother is threatening our security team. If he doesn't see you soon, we might have to sedate him," Akita announced, poking her head into the room after knocking.

"You can let him in," Anna sighed. She wasn't exactly looking forward to telling Tony about the baby. He tended to overreact. But delaying it further would only make it worse. Especially if they sedated Tony. He'd wake up buzzing like a hornet. Besides, it was too late to redact her statement, as Akita had already left to retrieve her brother.

"You better go," she added to James, shifting under his arm. It would be best to give Tony time to digest and accept her news before seeing James.

"I'm not leaving you. We can tell him together," James insisted, tightening his arm around her. They were in this together. He wouldn't let Anya go through any more of the pregnancy alone.

Noticing the stubborn set of James' shoulders, Anna leaned her head back against the pillows in defeat. It might be her news to tell, but James was just as much a part of this as she was. She couldn't justify excluding him from any father-to-be moments. Including telling family and friends; no matter what their reactions were.

"Anna Banana," Tony beamed when he entered the room, crossing it in four strides before wrapping her up in a tight embrace. He sent a pointed look at Tin Man when his arm hindered the embrace, but Tin Man didn't remove his arm. Tony decided not to let it ruin his reunion with his sister. "Please stop getting kidnapped. My heart and nerves can't take it."

"I think everyone who would want to kidnap me has been eliminated," Anna murmured, her gut twisting at the reminder of the blood on her hands.

"I sincerely hope so," Tony grumbled, pulling away from Anna. After adjusting his position, he finally found a comfortable seat on the side of the bed. "I thought you could only have one visitor at a time," Tony muttered, sending another pointed stare towards Tin Man.

"I'm a Stark, I can be persuasive same as you. With less whining," Anna retorted, attempting to lighten the mood as best she could. Fiddling with the blankets, then smoothing them out as flat as possible, Anna pressed forward. "There's something I want to tell you. I just need you to promise to hear it with an open mind."

"That doesn't sound promising," Tony responded, his brow furrowing.

"I'm pregnant," Anna announced, not knowing any way to cushion the blow. Her heart was in her throat, squeezing tightly as she watched realization dawn on Tony's face like a sunset. The light, carefree look in his eyes faded slowly, followed by the corners of his mouth turning down.

"You're…" Tony broke off, abruptly standing from the bed and running a shaky hand through his hair. Anna might have mistaken the movement as shock, until he turned to face her again. There was no mistaking the look on Tony's face. He was pissed.

"You're a doctor. How could you let this happen," Tony thundered, gesturing widely with his arm before his eyes snapped to Tin Man. "You did this to her. Do you have any idea what this means? You might be able to live your life like nothing's changed, but she will be burdened with this for the rest of her life."

Tony's breaths were short and shallow as he worked himself up. After everything Anna Banana had been through, she deserved to be able to return to the life she had to put on hold. She didn't deserve to have her life sidelined, again.

"Our child is not a burden," James muttered, removing his arm from around Anya so he wouldn't accidently hurt her. He could feel his muscles tightening at Tony's words.

Losing control of everything, Tony's mind swirled with dark thoughts as he launched himself across the bed, causing Anna to pull her legs out of the way. When his fist connected with Tin Man's jaw, the pain was numbed by the satisfaction. The physical contact spurred his anger, giving it an outlet.

Pushed off the bed from the force of Tony's attack, James steadied himself, deflecting Tony's blows as best he could without hurting him. Tony fought harder when he was fueled by anger. A few blows got past James' block, but as long as Tony worked through his anger, James didn't care if Tony got a few shots in.

"Tony, stop it," Anna ordered, sliding off the bed. This was supposed to be happy news. Anna was happy about it. Tony just needed to calm down and stop ruining everything, dammit.

Trying to figure out how to jump into the mix without getting hurt in the process, Anna studied the dance before her, jumping in when she saw her opportunity like she used to during Double Dutch. Just one step put her close enough to reach out and touch Tony's shoulder lightly. Unfortunately that was the moment Tony over swung and ended up clocking Anna square on the left side of her jaw. The force of which had her stumbling to the ground.

Tony hitting Anna flipped a switch inside James. Muscles taught, he moved his metal hand around Tony's throat as he pinned him against the wall. Tony clawed at his metal fingers, but it didn't do any good. James had no intention of letting him continue his temper tantrum now that it had affected Anya. Tossing him roughly to the side, James retreated back to Anya.

"Anya?" James murmured, turning her face to the left. It was red from the hit, and would no doubt bruise.

"I'm okay," Anna responded after maneuvering her jaw to ensure it wasn't broken. It wasn't, but the dull pain that radiated down the left side of her jaw up to her left ear let her know it would be bruised. That wasn't the only part of her body that would bruise either. She'd landed on the hard floor on her right hip.

"Anna Banana," Tony whispered, his shoulders hunched as he took a step closer to her. He didn't get much farther before James stepped between him and Anna. His posture and stance were a dare. Should Tony take a step closer, he'd be the one on the floor.

"At least you didn't have your suit on," Anna snapped back at her brother. Tony needed to learn his tantrums wouldn't be tolerated. Not by her. Not anymore. Before Tony could retaliate, Akita was rushing through the doors, most likely drawn by the sound of the altercation.

"What happened?" Akita demanded, taking in the occupants of the room. Judging by the dent in the wall and Anna's position on the floor, the news of her pregnancy hadn't been taken well by her brother.

"My brother overreacted. Again," Anna huffed. Easing herself off the floor, James supported her arms until she was seated on the bed. Its soft cushion was much nicer than the floor.

Tony didn't try to apologize again. He stood with his back pressed against the wall, staring wide eyed at Anna Banana. It didn't matter that he hadn't meant to hurt her. Intentions didn't mean anything when the truth was he had hurt her. He'd hit his baby sister. Hard too, seeing as he was trying to hit Tin Man.

"I'll get you some ice for your face. An ultrasound might be a good idea. The baby's survived a lot with you, but I'd rather be safe," Akita stated, sending a disapproving glance at Tony before leaving.

"What can I do to make it better?" Tony pleaded, self-hatred washing over him just like it had every time he fought with his father in the past.

"Stop acting like dad and be a supportive brother," Anna stated, scooting further up on the bed. She knew it was a low blow, but Tony needed to hear it. Ducking his head, Tony murmured an apology before easing off the wall and making his way towards her. James countered his movement by sitting up straighter.

"Easy, Tin Man. No more fists will be flying," Tony quipped, holding his hands up as he stopped beside the bed. Anna Banana was right. He'd been too quick to anger, just like their father.

"You want this? You're happy?" Tony asked, awkwardly gesturing at Anna's stomach.

"I had a vision for my life that didn't include kidnapping, meeting James, or being pregnant. But I've learned to be adaptable while on the run. When I found out I was pregnant, my perspective shifted. I'm happy, Tony." After everything she'd been through from Brent, to Hydra and Rumlow, she felt it was a miracle she could honestly say she was happy.

"Then, uh, I guess congratulations?" Tony murmured, rubbing the back of his neck. He was saved from having to find something else to say when Steve came marching in, Natasha following behind him.

"Congratulations for what?" Steve asked, stopping by the foot of the bed. He was going to wait his turn to see Anna, but Tony was taking too long. Seeing as Bucky hadn't returned to the conference room, Steve figured that meant the one person at a time rule was no longer active.

"I see you have more guests," Akita commented as she pushed the cart with the ultrasound and monitor into the room. Stopping on the right side of the bed she handed an ice pack wrapped in a towel to Anna.

Steve's eyes flashed from Anna to the machine the doctor carted in. He might not be up to date on a lot of things in this century, but because he waited for Anna after missions and had inquired about the different machines located around the SHIELD infirmary, he knew that was an ultrasound. Seeing as Anna was already proclaimed stable, only one of the uses she'd rambled off to him when he'd asked about it before would make sense.

"You're pregnant?" Steve asked, turning towards Anna with a smile that only widened when she nodded in affirmation. "I'm going to be an uncle!" He exclaimed, turning towards Natasha and pulling her into a hug since he couldn't hug Anna at the moment. Natasha returned the embrace, patting Steve's back lightly until he released her.

"Well technically, you're not related," Tony started before Anna hushed him. She didn't want Tony to ruin Steve's fun. At least he had reacted appropriately to the news.

"You need the best prenatal care ever," Steve insisted rather seriously before turning and repeating those instructions to Akita.

"You do know I'm a doctor, right?" Anna chuckled at Steve's exuberance. "See, that's how an uncle should react," Anna teased, turning towards Tony with a smirk and raised eyebrow.

"I'm sorry to break up the party, but I have a baby I need to check on," Akita interrupted, holding up the gel for the ultrasound.

"It's okay. They can stay if they want," Anna insisted. Everyone in that room was family. Steve and Natasha, as well as the other Avengers, were adopted into the Stark family tree since the Avengers first saved the world.

The gel was cold against her stomach, causing her body to reflexively convulse as it was applied. As a doctor, it always felt unnerving when she was a patient herself. She'd only performed a handful of ultrasounds dealing with pregnancy. Most of which had been for the significant others of SHIELD employees. This time, being the patient would be even more surreal. Actually seeing the baby growing inside her would add another layer of realness to the pregnancy.

Squirming at the pressure of the probe, Anna focused on the monitor to distract herself from the mild discomfort. At first all she could see was black space, until Akita moved the probe a little more to her left side. At only 8 weeks, the image wasn't more than a tiny blob. Still, as soon as Anna saw it her hand wrapped around James', clutching it tightly. As Akita pointed out the heartbeat and the head, James lips pressed firmly against the side of Anna's head.

"It's so tiny," Steve commented, his head tilting to the side as he studied the monitor. He'd never actually seen one while it was being used.

"Definitely takes after Anna Banana in that aspect," Tony joked, deflecting the mix of emotions swirling inside him. If he focused on any of them he might start crying.

"Everything looks good. Do you want a picture of the ultrasound?" Akita asked, glancing at the soldier and Anna. Though she didn't understand their bond, she still offered them the same options she had all her patients.

"Please," Anna insisted, her smile widening as she continued to stare at the monitor, leaning her head against James' shoulder. This was real. They were having a baby.

…

Akita moved Anna out of the temporary room in the hospital wing after the ultrasound. She no longer required constant medical surveillance; all tests pointed towards good health. The room they moved her was almost identical except it had a queen bed instead of a single, and an attached bathroom. As soon as Akita left her to get settled, Anna made a beeline for the shower.

The warm water burned the raw skin around her wrists, but it also rinsed away the dirt, sweat, and blood. Being clean felt more human, even when Anna's raw wrists reminded her of the chains that had bound her like an animal. Using the gauze Akita had provided her, Anna bandaged her wrists after patting them dry and applying a topical antibiotic. The soft cotton soothed the irritated skin, and hid the wounds.

Her face was starting to bruise along her jawline, splotches of blue and purple spreading across it like a watercolor painting. Making a note to grab some more ice for it, Anna dressed in clothes that were clean, but not hers. Stepping out into her room, she found Tony perched on the edge of the bed.

"Where's James?" Anna asked, her eyes sweeping over the small room as though James was hiding somewhere. There weren't many places for a person to hide.

"Natasha is distracting him," Tony responded, tucking his phone into his jacket pocket. "I wanted to say goodbye without an audience."

"You're leaving?" Anna reiterated, brows furrowing as she took a seat beside her brother.

"T'Challa and I will be escorting Zemo back to the States." It had taken some convincing for the people of Wakanda to release the man who had killed their king into Tony's custody. They'd wanted him to face their justice. Thankfully, T'Challa stepped in on Tony's behalf.

"You have Zemo," Anna murmured, glancing up at Tony at the unexpected news. She knew James and Steve had been going after him, but she hadn't heard if they'd caught him.

"Yeah, we got the psycho. He's going to provide testimony, take ownership for setting off the bomb at the summit meeting, to the CIA, UN and whoever else needs to hear it." There was a long list of agencies who would need to hear what Zemo had to say.

"You're going to clear James name," Anna sighed, pulling her legs up onto the bed until they were folded beneath her.

"I'm going to try to clear both your names. I also need to check in on Rhodey, see how he's doing." Tony had left Rhodey in the hands of the best doctor he could find, but Rhodey needed more than just doctors. He needed emotional support from friends and family.

"What happened to Rhodey?" Anna's question reminded Tony how, even though she was present during the battle, she hadn't witnessed much of it.

"Vision accidently hit Rhodey's suit during the airport battle. He crash landed, shattered L4 through S1 with extreme laceration of the spinal cord," Tony reiterated, his heart swallowed up with guilt just like every other time he thought of Rhodey.

"Oh my god," Anna murmured, her stomach sinking at the image of Rhodey laying paralyzed in a hospital bed. The physical therapy for spinal cord injuries was brutal, and the waiting list at the VA would be long. Anna might be able to pull some strings with some of her connections, but that would require more than a phone conversation. "I'm coming with you. I can help Rhodey."

"You can't come home before Zemo testifies. You'll be held for questioning by one of our 'intelligence' agencies and won't be any help to Rhodey," Tony countered, resting a comforting hand on Anna Banana's shoulder. She had a good heart. Better than most. But having a good heart meant it hurt all the more when she couldn't help people in need. Especially people she cared about.

"Ughhh," Anna grumbled, grabbing one of the pillows from the head of the bed and flinging it across the room.

"Feel better?" Tony commented, amused at Anna Banana's antics.

"Not really," Anna muttered, moving to retrieve the pillow. "Stupid judicial system. Make sure Rhodey knows why I'm not there helping." The only thing worse than not being able to help, was having Rhodey think she didn't care to help.

"Of course," Tony reassured her, pulling out his phone when it vibrated from his pocket. One look at the screen had him rolling his eyes and returning it to his pocket without responding.

"Is it the senator?" Anna inquired, figuring the annoyance was because the senator was one of the many who stood in the way of James', and her, freedom.

"No it's Peter. Again. I knew I shouldn't have given him my personal number," Tony elaborated, shaking his head at his past self's stupidity. He'd given it for emergency purposes, but the kid didn't seem to understand what constituted an emergency.

"Who's Peter?" Anna asked, not recalling the name from anyone in Tony's personal or business life.

"The high school kid who wants to be an Avenger after helping out at the airport. You know, the one slinging webs," Tony explained, using his hands to illustrate the web slinging.

"You let a kid fight in a battle between experienced super people!" Anna screeched, slapping Tony hard on the arm. "Are you insane? He could have gotten seriously hurt. Please tell me he didn't get hurt," Anna continued her rant, grabbing a hold of Tony's jacket.

"He's fine. Walked away with a minor concussion," Tony insisted, prying Anna's hands off his jacket.

"You. Are. An. Inconsiderate. Idiot." Anna ground out, punching Tony in the shoulder between each word. "You do not recruit a boy for a personal vendetta. Or for any altercation. Think about his parents."

"He was fighting crime before I found him. And he lives with his aunt. His very hot aunt," Tony explained, holding Anna's hands still in his own to prevent another assault. "I know you're all hormonal and overprotective of all tiny humans right now, so I'm going to excuse your outburst."

As soon as Tony released her hands, Anna smacked him once more in the chest.

"Never use my pregnancy as an excuse to invalidate my feelings again," Anna snapped, massaging her right hand. Tony might have deserved every hit she sent him, but it had hurt both her hand and her wrist.

"If I apologize, will you stop being mad? I don't want to leave here with a rift between us," Tony murmured, straightening out his jacket. She had momentarily forgotten Tony would be leaving. Suddenly her anger evaporated.

"Even when you're being the world's biggest idiot, I will always love you. I would forgive you anything, so never feel like we left anything unsaid should something happen to either of us." Pulling Tony into a tight hug, Anna whispered her goodbyes to him. It hurt to see him leave and not know when he would return. They'd been separated for undetermined amounts of time more in the past year and a half than Anna cared for. At least that time she got to say goodbye.

* * *

 _A/N: and I'm still sticking to my predetermined posting schedule. Hopefully that keeps up. Thanks for reading, reviewing, and following/favoriting the story. Your support means so much to me. I don't think there is any way for you all to know how much your words lift my spirits! I hope you enjoyed this installment._

 _Onto guest review responses:_

 _Shipperwithdreams: Responding here because your PM is disabled. It made me smile to hear James' reaction to the baby melted you heart. Hope Tony's reaction didn't disappoint. I was torn with how to write it at first. I agree, James and Anna have been through a lot. But there's no telling what future me will put them through. Thanks for reviewing!_

 _Kam: I have no idea where you could buy a James. If I could pluck him from the pages and give him to you, I would. Unfortunately my writing powers do not let me do that._

 _Jo: I'm glad the last chapter answered all your questions AND you still enjoyed it. Because I'm always fearful of disappointing any of my readers. (illogical fear seeing as I can't make everyone happy)._

 _Pam: College das are the best. I wish I would have savored them a little more. I'm excited that we shared the desire to have Anna end Rumlow, and it's good to know I didn't go overboard with it. Anna is as brave as Barnes :)) Whiny Tony is fun to write. He's always come first in Anna's life, he's not used to sharing her. Thank you for continually reviewing. It just makes me so happy. Thanks again for checking out my Instagram :) It's really nice to put a face to a reviewer. You're stunning by the way, just like the nature photographs on your Instagram!_

 _To the guest who claimed I didn't disappoint: Whew! That's always a good thing to hear. To find that people ship my characters is like the ultimate high. Tony's reaction to the pregnancy was fun to write. I tried to keep him in the evolved state his character has grown to in this fic while still making it interesting. I did put a little info about Peter in this one. Not sure if he'll be coming into the story at any point just yet. Sorry Anna wasn't super scary. She'll might be a little scarier later on in the pregnancy when her emotions are even more all over the place. I always like to take time out to respond to all of my reviewers because you all take the time out to read AND review my story. Thanks for the review!_

 _To the guest who is scared for James when Tony finds out about the pregnancy: Nothing too fear. Nobody got hurt too badly. There might be some sore feelings between James and Tony for a little bit, but nobody got seriously injured._

 _Naii: Hey, glad you found the story again and continued on with it! It is an epic compliment to hear this is the best Bucky story you've read. I know there's a lot out there (he's a popular character). Thank you so much for your kind words!_

 _To the guest who claimed Tony better not kill Bucky: He didn't :) He just knocked him around a bit till he worked past his initial anger. Hope it wasn't too hard to read._

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


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